


Damn Good Reasons

by Entangler



Category: Stand By Me (1986)
Genre: 1950s, 1960s, Action, Crimes & Criminals, Drag Races, Drama, F/M, Fist Fights, Friendship, Major Original Character(s), References to Drugs, Romance, Shoplifting, Theft, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 09:18:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 77,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4781987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entangler/pseuds/Entangler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Previously named 'Out on a Limb')  Alone in the world, Cassie finds a friend in Chris. They get along and she supports him as he stands up to those who have dragged him down. But when unfinished business with some powerful people catches up with her, she is forced to take a turn in life that will jeopardize it all. Because the only person who can help her dig herself out of trouble is Chris's number one nemesis.</p>
<p>AcexOC... or will it be? Crime/Drama/Action. Warnings: Offensive language, drug references, Vince's smelly feet.</p>
<p>Subplot (later chapters): Eyeball finds inspiration from a free-spirited Catholic girl to step up and make some dramatic changes in his life. But as well as making a stand against his abusive father, Eyeball must decide whether to leave his life of crime behind him... because that would mean leaving his best friend in the lurch at a time when he needs him the most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Alleyway

Hi! I've been working on a new version of this story that I hope you'll enjoy just as much as the first. The original was far too large, and a lot of the ideas in it were old and unmotivating for me. I've completely reworked the plot and am super excited about it, so let's see how it rolls :) There will be a prologue but I haven't finalized it yet, so will post when it's ready.

_Rating:_ I've rated it T for now, (T for 'tame' compared to the last one lol) but there is still strong language (no stronger than in the movie) some violence and drug references. If it starts moving into other territory then I will increase the rating. Any qualms, please PM me.

Hope you enjoy the read!

\-----

The name ‘Chambers’ arose in whispered conversation often, but the name ‘Merrill’, I had never heard.  Perhaps people knew who they could get away with gossiping about and who they couldn’t.  Anyway, I wouldn’t have known a Chambers from a Merrill if I tripped over one.  None of them had ever come into the diner and I hardly ever left it, so I guess that’s why.  Even after living in Castle Rock for three months, I still hardly knew anybody.  Not really.  Sure, I knew a few faces and names, but the only people I ‘knew’ properly were the ladies I worked for and with.  Other than that, I hadn’t done much socializing.  I preferred to keep to myself for the time being.  For good reasons.  And so, when I walked in on some bleach-blond asshole strangling a thirteen-year-old kid up against a fence, I had no idea who I was dealing with.

I had been taking a stroll on my lunch break, sticking to my usual path which was around two blocks of town houses and then back out to the stores on Main street through an alleyway.

There were two assholes actually – the blond one and another with a brown mop and a scar at the corner of his eye that looked like someone had melted the skin with a cigarette.  Both guys looked about my age, but I had always been wise to stay clear of this kind.

“Get off, man!” the kid struggled to say as the blond clenched two fists full of his T-shirt collar up tight around his throat.

“Don't even _try_ to fuck with me.  I know it was you who told him.  Now, who else you been blabbing to?  What about Lachance?”

“I haven’t told Gordie anything.”

“What the hell is going on here?” I asked, walking straight in on them.  All three of them glanced at me briefly, but other than that, my sudden presence didn’t earn much of a reaction.

“You better be talking the truth here, Chambers,” the blond one continued, “’cause if I find out any different, I’m gonna shut that loose mouth of yours so good you won’t even be able to scream.”

The kid stared at his tormentor, his eyes gleaming with pure hate.  If looks could kill, his would have shot a bullet. “Fuck you, Ace,” he seethed.

My jaw dropped in shock.  And in admiration.

Ace leered over his shoulder at his friend who had been standing behind him the whole time just watching the antics with an unfaltering, pitiless grin.  “Your brother can never help himself, can he Eyeball?”

Eyeball’s grin widened.  “Nope.”

“And neither can I.”  Ace tightened his grip on the kid’s T-shirt and began to raise him up against the fence.  The kid’s dirty, white runners lifted an inch off the ground, and he started kicking out and desperately clawing at Ace's hands.

“Hey, let him down!” I yelled, and when I got no response, I latched onto one of Ace’s arms and pulled down hard on it.  But even my whole 100 pounds of weight wasn’t too much for him to counter.  I heard the derisive snickers coming from them both as they laughed at this chick who was fruitlessly swinging off Ace’s arm like it was a monkey bar, but I didn’t care a shit how I looked.  “Let go of him!” I screamed.

Ace forcefully swung his arm out, flinging me away so hard that I stumbled and nearly went down onto my backside, and that emitted even more laughs.  “Eyeball, grab her,” he said.

Eyeball acted on command and stepped forwards to take me.  I ducked and dived to avoid capture, but he managed to grab me around the chest from behind and pull one of my arms up behind my back in an uncomfortable hold.

“Move and I’ll break it,” he sneered in my ear.

Meanwhile, the kid was down off the fence, coughing and frantically sucking air back into his lungs.

“That’s your warning, Chris,” Ace said to him smoothly.  “Don’t do anything stupid.”  He grabbed Chris by the shirt again and shoved him onwards down the path and in the direction of Main street.  “Scram.”

Chris steadied himself, still massaging and rubbing his throat.  “I’m not leaving ‘til you let her loose.  She has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh, she does now.  Eyeball, get your brother outta here.”

Eyeball released me with a snicker, and I stretched my arm with relief.  He then went to Chris and pushed him forward down the path.  “Get goin’ ya little runt,” he laughed.

Chris looked back helplessly as he stumbled along, swatting and fighting off his older brother’s insistent pushes until one final push at the alleyway entrance sent him out of our sight.

Ace slowly closed in on me until he had me backed right up against the fence.  He topped my height by about three inches, and his stony blue eyes looked me over like a dog taking an interest in his new plaything.  “So, what do we have here then?”

I took one step sideways to leave, but he placed a large hand on the fence right by my head, so his arm blocked my way.  “A big problem if you hold me here like this any longer.  What you and your sidekick just did is assault.”

“Oh, I’m shaking in my boots.”  He snickered and looked at Eyeball who was back and joined him in the joke.  “I think we’ve got one with a smart mouth.  Perhaps even a big mouth.”  Ace’s eyes drifted down to my bust where my buttercup-yellow waitress dress was very fitting.  “Have you got a big mouth, Cassie?” he asked, and I realized he’d read the name on my tag.

“Piss me off enough, and I’ll sing like a bird.”

He cracked a laugh.  “So, what do you know then?”

“Just that Chris told somebody something and you’re extremely paranoid about it.  Other than that, I didn’t hear anything specific.  So consider this your lucky day.”

Ace suddenly got a curious look in his eyes as he stared at me, and he shook his head with a disbelieving grin like some unfathomable idea had just come to him.  “How long you been working at the Blue Point?”

“What does it matter?”

“Couple months?”

“About that… why?”

Ace leaned in close to my ear, and although he didn’t touch me, I could feel the warmth of him and could smell the sweet scent of whiskey.  “A thief is still on the loose,” he whispered softly.  “You know anything about that?”

I went cold and my heart probably even stopped for a bit.  “I… have no idea what you're…”

My voice trailed off as he stared firmly into my eyes like he could see straight through me and was watching the memories play through my head. “I think you do.”

"You can't prove anything."

Ace smiled like he was proud of himself for being such a smart ass.  “The only proof I need is the look on your face.  You know, I _am_ feeling lucky today.  See you ‘round, sweetheart.”  He pushed off the fence, and him and his compadre left me standing there with my heart beating through my chest as they headed down the alleyway and out to the main street.


	2. The Chambers Kid

I look back at my time working at the Blue Point Diner with fond memories.  It was run by 80-year-old twin sisters, Rose and Violet, the dearest little old ladies you’d ever meet.  Rose was the oldest sister – the bossy one (no, I’m just kidding).  She was the one who ran the business, did the books and managed the stock.  Violet was the head cook and managed the menus, although both of their cooking was amazing.  They’d been cooking since they were old enough to take a hot pan out of an oven, and with 70+ years of experience, they had it all down to a fine art.  You could dine in for a meal, or those on the run could pick from the selection of fresh buns, rolls, cakes and slices.  Violet’s homemade pumpkin soup was our most famous dish.  It was a deliciously rich and spicy stew which had even won interstate awards.  People would come from all around just to try our food, and that’s what made the Blue Point iconic to Castle Rock.

There was just one downside - it was a cesspit for gossip.

Everybody knows just about everybody in the small town, and rumors used to waft through the diner as freely as the smell of Violet’s best-baked bread. As I served customers, mopped floors and cleaned tables, I only had to open my ears to learn what people thought about Chris and his family.

 _White trash. Scum of society._ Those were the terms I’d hear.

 _“I saw Mrs. Chambers in town the other day with her young ones,”_ they’d whisper to each other.  _“The poor little dears in their tatty clothes and bare feet.”_

_“All of those boys will end up alcoholics just like their father.  Mark my words.”_

_“Or they’ll end up in jail like the eldest one.”_

_“Both Richard and Christopher are already well on their way to that - the little thief.”_

_“Who knows what will become of the small girl?  Only two years old and no hope in life.”_

_“She’ll wind up pregnant before she’s left high-school, you just wait and see.”_

They seemed so adamant in their opinions - OK… so, Richard aka “Eyeball” wholly fitted their views from what I had seen – but, I felt they were being grossly unfair on the young ones especially, and I had trouble believing the things they said about Chris.  He was definitely one to be curious about.

One week after the incident in the alleyway, as I was wiping down tables after a long day, the sound of laughter from outside caught my ear.  I glanced up to see two boys in their early teens walking past the diner window; the blond one was holding his dark-haired friend in a headlock as he playfully rubbed his knuckles into his scalp.

I dropped my cloth and rushed out onto the street.  The two skinny figures continued walking up the sidewalk, one with a dirty gray bedroll tucked under his arm and the other with a rucksack strapped to his back.

“Chris!” I called out.

They both stopped and turned around, inward to each other, their eyes squinting curiously at unfamiliar face striding towards them.  Chris elbow-nudged his friend when he finally recognized me.  “That’s that girl,” he mouthed before giving me a small congenial smile.

“How are you?” I asked him when I caught up with them. “I looked for you when those guys finally let me leave, but I couldn’t find you.”

“I’m fine.  Are _you_ OK?”

“Yeah,” I shrugged.

“Thanks for the other day…”

“That’s OK – I’m glad I was there to help.”  If Chris’s friend wasn’t with him, I would have asked him about Ace’s secret outright, but I erred on the side of caution and tried to come at it from a different angle.  “Listen… have you gone to the cops about that?”

“Are you kidding?  No way.”

“You could do him for assault, you know…”

Chris gave a slender, sarcastic laugh.  “If I went to the cops and Ace got put away, I’d get hided by the rest of them, and Ace would kill me when he got out.”

“The rest of them?”

“Look, Miss, you obviously don’t know anything about those guys or you wouldn’t be saying this stuff.  So take my advice – just forget about everything you saw and everything you heard and stay as far away from them as you can.  Come on, Gordie.”

The two turned to leave and I let them go, watching as they headed up the pavement.  I’d get another shot at talking to Chris – I had to.  That ‘Ace’ guy; I didn’t trust him one bit.  He could grass, he could blackmail me; his options were endless, and it was too risky for me to stay in such a weak position.  I needed ammo; something I could throw back at him if he ever pulled any stunts.  And from what I saw in the alleyway that day, Chris was holding a grenade.

-2-

Another day went by and the latest news, hot off the press, was that Chris’s father had started another bar brawl, his mother was covering a new bruise on her wrist, and the six-year-old boy had stolen a loaf of bread from the bakery.  The first-grader was talked about like he was starting early in following the Chambers’ traditions, but I remember being six and bread was never at the top of my want list.  I bet he took it because he was hungry.  I wondered if that was also Chris’s reason for stealing the milk money… which was another story the townspeople kept in circulation.

Honestly, every time I heard someone whisper Chris’s name, I had to bite my tongue hard to stop myself from speaking up.  I had to wire my jaw shut.  Their jeers infuriated me and, if I didn’t value my job so much, I would have vented that infuriation all over each and every one of them.  I had only been in Chris’s presence for a few minutes, and yet, I sensed a maturity about him that was beyond his years.  Everyone was so wrong about him.  So wrong.  I just knew it.

\---

I had two good reasons to find Chris but only one place to start looking – the local high school.  There was only one in Castle Rock, and I was sure he would attend there.  So, one afternoon, I filled a large paper bag with chicken rolls, mini-doughnuts and sweet slices, threw a couple of dollars into the till and then headed over there.  I waited across the road, checking my watch and resisting the urge to start on the mini-doughnuts.

The school bell rang and kids flooded out of the gates like rampant waters bursting through a dam.  I kept my eyes peeled for Chris but didn’t see his short, blonde hair bob past me amongst the rest of the crowd.  The rampant waters soon slowed to a gentler flow until the school had been sucked dry.

I sighed thinking that I must have missed him or that maybe he hadn’t gone to school that day.  Undecided on what to do next, I propped myself up on the nearest wall and pulled out a chocolate frosted mini-doughnut to munch on.  After doughnut number three, I noticed Chris walking out of the school hall.

I quickly swallowed my food and cleared my throat.

He strolled through the school gates with a heavily gratified satchel slung across his chest, and he had his head down, looking blue.  He was too preoccupied with his thoughts to see me, and so I slid off the wall and ran across the road to catch up to him.

“Chris, how are you doing?” I asked, making him jump slightly.

“Jesus, don’t sneak up on me like that…”

“I’m sorry… I thought I’d missed you.”

“Nah, I gotta report to the principal after school every day.”  He suddenly looked at me with concern.  “Why, what’s up?  Is everything OK?”

“Everything’s fine; I’m fine.  I was just wondering how you are.”

“You came looking for me just to ask me that?”

“Well… yeah,” I shrugged.  “I mean, I’ve been thinking about how those guys treated you and about how you feel like you can’t do anything about it… that really blows.  And I just wanna know that you’re alright; you know?”

Chris stifled a laugh.  “I’m alright, Miss.  I’m used to it.”

“You mean… he does that to you a lot?”

“Even before I could walk.”

“That’s awful…”

“Yeah well, _life_ blows,” he shrugged.

“Listen… I’ve been thinking, and I’m just gonna come straight out with this.  I want to help get Ace off your back for good.  Now, I understand that you can’t grass on him, but… there’s more than one way to skin a cat – you know what I mean?”

“Miss, don’t get any bright ideas.  It’s best just to stay out of his way.”

“It’s Cassie.  And I know that you know something you’re not supposed to know, and judging by how anxious Ace was the other day, I bet it’s something incriminating, isn’t it?”

“I can’t talk about that.”

“But he’ll never know you told me.  I could find another way to gather evidence against him-”

“Miss… Cassie… just forget it, alright?  You don’t wanna get involved.  You don’t know him.  Ace always finds out the truth.  And besides, he’s not the only one who’ll get into trouble - my brother will too.  So, just let it go.  Please?”

Chris quickened his pace to get ahead of me; to get away from me.  “Shit…” I muttered to myself.  I couldn’t argue with him – I didn’t want to.  This was turning out to be a touchier subject than I first thought.  I had to respect his wishes even if it meant letting Ace keep the upper hand.

“Wait… there’s one more thing,” I called after him.  “I need help with something myself.”

Chris stopped and deliberated for a moment before turning around.  “With what?”

“Well, it’s these delicious pieces of caramel square,” I said, peering into the bag with a troubled frown.  “I need someone to help me eat them otherwise I’ll stuff myself full and get fat.  Can you help?”

Chris’s mouth curved into a smile and he laughed.  It was like seeing heavy, dark rain clouds opening up to reveal blue skies, and it warmed me to see his troubles melt away, even for a moment.

-3-

Rose and Violet had been kind enough to let me stay with them in their large, three-bedroom townhouse for some time, but I soon needed my own space, and they needed theirs.  When I heard that Violet was planning to sell the place where she lived with her husband before he died, I immediately offered to rent it from her.   It had been vacant for six months and was still fully furnished, which was kinda eerie in a way, but I quickly breathed some life back into the place.  It was a two-bedroom cottage that was too small to swing a cat, but that was just perfect for me.

Chris walked inside and gazed around.  “This was the diner lady’s house.”

“Still is,” I said, grabbing some plates and glasses from the kitchen.  “I’m renting it from her.”

“Oh.  It’s just you here?”

“Yup.  Take a seat.”  I laid out the goodies I had brought with me and two glasses of milk onto the small, antique dining table.  “The doughnuts are my favorite,” I grinned.

Chris sat opposite me at the table and took my advice on the doughnuts.  He bit into one of the soft pastries and murmured in delight.  “Holy shit, that’s good,” he said before licking the generous amount of frosting off his lips. 

I smiled proudly, taking another one for myself.

“It must be awesome working at a diner with all this good food around you all day.”

“I remind myself how lucky I am every day.  I have a lot to thank those ladies for.”

“I always thought they were nice.”

“They’re lovely.  And they took me in when I needed kindness the most.  They’re like my surrogate grandmothers,” I laughed.  “They’re almost like a new family.”

I looked at Chris who was slowly chewing on the last mini-doughnut.  “So… where’s your old family?”  He sounded hesitant like he’d been holding back on asking but then let curiosity get the better of him.

“Both of my parents are… gone.”  I cleared my throat which had suddenly gone dry.  “My father was a pilot and crashed in a storm when I was five and my mother… well, I don’t like to talk about her.”

Chris blushed.  “Oh… sorry.”

“No, it’s alright.  It’s been nearly a year, but it doesn’t seem like much longer than a couple of months to me.”

My mind went back to that night again.  She was blue… cold… just gone.  The memory was still so vivid that I physically had to shake myself out of that awful place and back into reality.

Chris respectfully bowed his head, and I appreciated that but didn’t want to be a burden on him.

“You’ve gotta try the caramel square,” I said, forcing myself to perk up.  “It’s amazing.  Not too sweet, but more… buttery.”  I gave him a slice to add to his handful.

Chris took a large bite with a grin.  “Yum,” he said, rolling the portion over in his mouth.

“So, how did the camping go the other day?” I asked, pouring two large glasses of milk from a bottle.  “You and your friend were going camping, right?”

“Yeah, it was just the usual,” he shrugged.  He took a gulp of milk to wash down all the chocolaty goodness.  “We camp out on our friend’s back field all the time.  Well, we haven’t done it much lately; only when Billy’s gone for the weekend.”

The name rang a bell.  “Thick, dark ducktail?  Strong accent?”

“Yeah… you know him?”

“I met him just the once.  And a guy called Vince – boy, I hope I never bump into _him_ again…”

“They’re in Ace’s gang.”

“Ace’s _gang_?”

“They call themselves The Cobras.  Perfect name since they’re all snakes.”

“I should’ve guessed those guys would be chummy with Ace.  So, what’s his problem anyway?  Why does he pick on you all the time?”

“For kicks,” he shrugged.  “But for the last few months… ever since… he’s been worse ‘cos he’s still holding a grudge on Gordie and me.”

“Ever since what?”

“Just something that happened last year.  We stopped Ace from taking something that he thought belonged to him, but he didn’t belong to no one.”

“He?  Like a pet or something?”

“No, not a pet…”

“I don’t follow…”

“The point is that Ace hates us now more than ever and he doesn’t just pick on us for kicks anymore.  He does it for revenge.”

“Chris, are you sure you don’t wanna take this guy down?”

“I want to, sure.  But I can’t get my brother into trouble.  My old man would beat me for a week.  And my mother… having two sons in prison, neither of them old enough to buy beer… legally…  It would devastate her.”

“Right.  I’m sorry.  I won’t ask again.”

“Besides, Ace ain’t half my problems.”  Chris got a distant look in his eyes and cringed a little as if his mind was taking him on an unpleasant trip through some bad memories.  “Do you know what it’s like living in this town, for me?  It’s like trying to fly with your feet glued to the ground.  Gordie says I can get out if I try, but trying ain’t ever good enough.  I’m really behind in school, Cassie, but I’ve been trying to catch up.  Gordie’s been helping me, and I’m really starting to understand stuff, you know?  Stuff’s starting to make sense, and I’m listening better in class.  But… the teachers, they don’t see all the progress I’ve made.  All they see is the fuck-ups.  All they see is what they wanna see.  I dunno know why I bother.”

“I know why.  It’s because you’ve got the potential to become someone great and you know it.”

Chris raised his gaze to me.

“I saw how you held yourself against Ace that day,” I continued.  “You were probably scared, but you didn’t let him walk over you for a minute.  So, why let the rest of the town?  You can choose to grow up as the kid who was looked down on and walked over, or you can be the kid who fought the odds and rose above it.  And if you make it, Chris, you’ll be the one who’s laughing.  You’ll be the one looking down on everyone you left behind.”

A smirk rose to the corner of his lips.

“Listen, if you and Gordie ever need a place to study, you’re more than welcome to come here.  It’s quiet, no interruptions… I’m a good cook…”

“Seriously?  No, we couldn’t…”

“Yes, you could.  Even if I’m working, I’ll hide a key for you outside.  This place would make a good study space, and I want you to take advantage it.  OK?”

“OK,” he nodded.

"Good." I gave him a warm smile. I felt satisfied with myself for finding a way to offer him some assistance, even if it seemed like I had merely contributed a single rung of the tall ladder that he would have to build and climb. I had Chris's back one hundred percent, and I wasn't going to let anything get in his way.


	3. One for Justice

Every day for two weeks straight, Chris would come to my place after school and study for at least a couple of hours.  Most of the time he’d bring Gordie, and if he didn’t, we’d usually get sidetracked and end up spending most of the study session topic-hopping.  They were the least productive afternoons.  We’d talk about trivial stuff - new TV programs and movies, the new ice-cream flavors that Violet was experimenting with in the diner - anything that had nothing to do with real life.  My place was like an escape - a sanctuary where he could come and feel motivated towards the future, not pulled back into his everyday worries and battles.

But one day, he could not leave the outside world at my front door.  The usual spark of inspiration he usually got when he sat down at my dining table didn’t even flicker.  He heaved his weighty textbooks out of his satchel and lumped them on the table in front of him and then just stared at them under a heavy brow.

I set down a fresh batch of chocolate chip and toasted coconut cookies that I had just baked and got no reaction.  Now, _that_ got me worried.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, slipping into the chair opposite him.

He slunk his head down and rested it on his arms, and then began lightly thumping it on the table.

“Chris?”

He raised his head but kept staring at his books.  “We had the test today,” he muttered.  “You know the one we’ve been studying really hard for?”

“Yes…”

“I got an A.”

My eyebrows rose at least two inches in surprise.  “Wow, way to go!” I said, reaching across the table to give him a congratulatory slap on the arm.  “You kidder!  You had me all worried, thinking you’d failed or something!”

“I did fail.”

“What?”

“They wouldn’t give me the A.  They think I cheated.”  Chris reached into his satchel and slipped out a sheet of paper that was his test.  Tick marks lined the edge, all the way down, with only a couple of cross marks in the middle.  The teacher had written an ‘A’ at the bottom of her markings and then crossed it out to replace it with a big fat ‘F’.

I snatched the sheet of paper out of his hands to inspect it more closely.  The answers he’d gotten wrong were the topics he’d been really struggling with, and so that didn’t surprise me, but he’d nailed everything else.

“This is outrageous!”  Rage flowed through me in waves.  What that teacher had done was appalling, despicable, disgusting.  And for the first time, I truly understood the situation that Chris was in.

“I don’t feel like studying today,” Chris said, grabbing his books and stuffing them back into his satchel.  “I dunno when I’ll back.”  He rose to leave, but I called after him.

“Chris, what’s your teacher’s name?”

-2-

The lobby of the reception area felt dark, dank and empty as I stood in the reception area of Castle Rock Junior High, waiting for the school secretary to return from her lunch.  I admit that I was nervous - I was only 18 myself, not exactly an authority figure over these teachers.

The secretary finally strolled in, showing her lack of enthusiasm for her job.  She slumped her weighty body behind her desk and into her tattered chair and ignored me as she began stamping envelopes.

“Excuse me,” I said.

“Yeah?” she replied, looking up at me with an ‘I don’t have all day’ expression on her face.

“I’m looking for Ms. Anderson.  I was hoping to speak with her.”

“You a student?”

“No.”

“You a parent?”

“No.”  _Geez, do I look like a parent?_

“OK,” she said, handing me a little clipboard and a pen. “Fill this in, and I’ll make you an appointment.”

I gritted my teeth and took the clipboard from her.  As I began filling out the form, she opened a big book labeled ‘Annual Planner’ and flicked through to the current date.

“Nothing today…” she mumbled, “nothing tomorrow…”  She flicked through several further pages.  “The earliest I can get you in is next month.”

“Next month?” I blurted out.  “I only need to speak with her for five minutes.”

“I’ll make your appointment for five minutes then,” she said smugly.

“What?  No… I just need to speak to Ms. Anderson!”

“I’m Ms. Anderson,” said a prim voice from behind me.

I swung around to see Chris’s teacher conveniently standing behind me.  She stood tall with her bright red high heels together and her nose in the air. She looked around age 40 and wore a very fitting gray suit, cat-eye spectacles and bright-red lipstick which was smeared on so thick you’d think she’d used the entire stick.

“Ms. Anderson?  My name is Cassandra O’Connor, and I’d like to talk to you regarding one of your students.”

“Which student exactly?”

“Chris Chambers.”

“And are you related to Christopher in any way?”

“No, I’m…”

“Then we have nothing to discuss,” she smiled before turning to totter off down the hallway.

I had a strong feeling that the pompous bitch knew exactly why I wanted to talk to her.

 _Poor Chris_ , I thought to myself, _having to deal with_ _‘this’ every day._

“Why did you accuse Chris of cheating?” I shouted at her down the hall.

She abruptly stopped, spun around and then tottered back to me.  Maybe she did want to have this conversation after all.  “Because he cheated.”

“No, he didn’t, and I can prove it.  I’m gonna bring out the truth.”

“Huh huh ha!” she laughed, fluttering her thick, fake eyelashes.  “Nobody will believe you, girl.  Who would ever believe that a Chambers could pass a test let alone score an A?  The entire family are nothing but drunks and jailbirds, and you know what?”  She leaned in so close to me that I shuddered from the cold draft of her whisper.  “Your little friend will become exactly that.”

I erupted inside like a volcano.  I completely lost my cool.  I seethed at her as she gave me a sickening smile of satisfaction before turning on her high-heels to totter away.

It was time for plan B.

I briskly turned to the reception desk.  The secretary looked just as smug as her cold-hearted co-worker.

“Where’s the principal’s office?” I demanded.

She smirked as she held out the little clipboard and pen.  “Please fill-”

I rolled my eyes before storming down the hallway to look for the principal.

Ms. Anderson must’ve realized my intentions because she came tottering after me yelling, “Where do you think you’re going?  That is off limits!”

Now I knew I was heading in the right direction.  There was a line of students perched on a bench in one of the hallways, and that made the principal's office easy to find.  I barged through his doorway without even bothering to knock.

“Who are you?” the principal bellowed from behind his desk in his fancy leather chair.  “What are you doing charging in here like that?”

Ms. Anderson burst through the doorway behind me.  “I tried to stop her, Mr. Smith!”

“Are you a student here?  I don’t recognize you.”

I took a calming breath to prevent myself from losing it and achieving nothing.  “My name is Cassie O’Connor and I’m here because Ms. Anderson has accused one of your students, a very hard-working student, of cheating on a test.”

“That’s a very serious allegation,” he said, looking to Ms. Anderson as if offering her an opportunity to explain herself.

“I gave him the appropriate grade,” she said confidently.

“Based on what?  His surname?” I said in outrage.  “Chris got 95% of the answers correct, and you failed him!”

“Chris?  You mean the Chambers kid?” the principal said.

“That boy has been studying his ass off, but nothing he does is ever good enough for you people!”

Mr. Smith gave me an authoritative glare.  “Watch your tone in my office, Miss O’Connor or I will throw you off the school grounds myself.  You have no right to be in here in the first place.”

Ms. Anderson gave me a pompous smile.

“However… I’ve seen Chris after school every day for the past few weeks, and I must say, I’ve noticed a change in him.  He’s been keeping good attendance, completing all of his homework, and we’ve even discussed college courses for next year.  If he keeps up this rate of learning, then I think he may very well achieve that.”

I wanted to drop to my knees and kiss the guy’s feet.  Finally, somebody was on our side and for that person to be the school principal was a bonus.

The look on Ms. Anderson’s face was priceless.  Her lipstick smeared bottom lip fell open to utter, “But, but, but…”

“But,” Mr. Smith continued, “I am not willing to question the competence of my teachers unless I have good reason to.  If Ms. Anderson is sure that Chris cheated on a test, then I am in no position to call her a liar.”

“But she _is_ a liar, and I… Chris can prove it,” I said.  “Write him a new test and sit him alone in a room - even watch him if you like - and I guarantee that he won’t fail.  I guarantee that he’ll get an A.”

Mr. Smith’s eyes rolled towards a very nervous looking Ms. Anderson as he pondered on my suggestion.  Meanwhile, I was working on plan C, which entailed reciting a list of his superiors that I would go to if he denied Chris the opportunity to prove himself.

“Ms. Anderson,” the principal said, “write Chris a new test.  And make sure it’s fair.”

“But, Mr. Smith!”

“Chris will sit the test, right here in my office at the end of the week.  Let’s put an end to this nonsense once and for all.”

“But…”

“You’re dismissed, Ms. Anderson.”

Ms. Anderson turned on her heels and tottered out the door with her nose at a significantly lower level than when she walked in.

“Thank you, Mr. Smith,” I smiled appreciatively.

Mr. Smith smiled in return and mouthed, “Well done.”

-3-

Kids flooded out of the school gates during the after-school rush.  I sat on the wall across the road and waited with high anticipation for Chris to finish his daily meeting with the principal.  He finally emerged from the main building with a slight spring in his step, and his head held high.  He saw me, and I waved before slipping down off the wall and running to meet him.

“How was school?” I grinned.

He stared at me blankly as if he couldn’t believe that this was real.  “They’re asking me to resit the test.”

“I guess we’d better go study then, huh?”

“How did you do it?” he asked.

“The principal has your back, Chris, more than you realize.  He seems like a decent person.”

“He hasn’t been the principal for long - just a few months.  He’s new to town.”

“That explains a lot.”

“Thanks, Cass,” he beamed at me.  “I owe you one.  Or more like… a million.”

“Well, maybe you can give me a good job when you’re the CEO of some top corporation, or you can give me a good deal when I need a hotshot lawyer.  I’m sure you’ll come in handy somehow,” I laughed, ruffling his hair.

He laughed back, and I clapped him on the shoulder to begin our walk back to my place for a study session.


	4. Skeletons

Word had spread fast - that I was sure of. As I took orders, served food and wiped tables, I felt like I was being constantly watched and scrutinized by every pair of eyes. I caught a few people sneaking glances in my direction and saw many secretly whispering to each other. I even heard some alarming half-sentences as I drifted around the room.

_"_ _…helped him cheat."_

_"Why would she_ _…"_

_"_ _…he doesn't deserve…"_

_"_ _… still a thief…"_

Chris re-sat the test the day before and topped his original mark with an A+. He was over the moon with his score and for proving to the principal that he really could do it.  But his biggest victory was over Ms. Anderson. The principal was now watching her like a hawk. It was one small step in the right direction, even if the rest of the town didn't seem convinced.  Some people only believe what they want to believe.

Finally, the last of the day's customers left, and I was there alone and enjoying the peace of an empty room. I began my daily routine for shutting up the shop when a sudden movement outside caught my eye. A forehead of thick brown hair was pressed against the front window as somebody tried to peer in through the net curtains. I squinted to make out the face… Eyeball.

_Oh_ _… shit._

Eyeball's head soon detached itself from the glass, probably leaving behind a glob of Brylcreem, and he vanished. I picked up my pace. I had a feeling he had been snooping on behalf of his blond-haired buddy who I preferred to avoid.

After wiping the counter in record time, I hastily popped the cash register to start loading the coins and bills into the money bag.  And then I realized what an idiot I had been for not simply locking the front door.  I dropped the bag and made a dash for it, but before I could get there, our little bell jangled and Eyeball smugly strolled in.

"We're closed.”

"Sign says you're open," he said, lobbing a thumb at the sign hanging in the window.

“I veto the sign.  Now, get out.”

Just then, the door flew open, startling me and violently jangling our little bell.  Ace walked in like he owned the place with his chest all puffed out and his demanding blue eyes staring me down. The door closed behind him – no jangle this time. He'd clean ripped the bell off the doorframe.

"Was that _really_ necessary?" I asked.

“Eyeball.”  He tilted his head at the door but didn’t take his eyes off me for a moment.

"But…" Eyeball began to protest.

"I said, get lost."

Eyeball huffed at the unfairness of it all before leaving the diner.

Ace moved slowly towards the table beside us, passing so close by me that he brushed my dress.  He sat down and nodded at the seat opposite him, suggesting that I sit.

I took the seat and sternly folded my arms with my best ‘hurry up and get on with it then’ look.

“You’ve been asking Chris questions,” he said.

That startled me more than the door nearly flying off its hinges.  “Now, why would you think that?”

“Word around town is that you've been helping Chris out in school.  That you two are getting all buddy-buddy with each other.”

“So?” I shrugged.

“A girl your age wouldn’t hang out with a little kid like him unless you wanted something – information.”

“Or maybe you’re just being paranoid again.”

Ace raised his eyebrows with a look that spoke for him.

“OK… so, maybe that _was_ one reason why I wanted to get to know him… initially.  But he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“And if he did tell you, would you have used it on me?”

“I just wanted something to get you back if you ever...”

“No. You wanted to get rid of me. Didn’t you?”

My gaze dropped to the table, and I started fidgeting with the mustard bottle, untightening and retightening the cap.

“Come on, Cassie, say it.”

“Would have been the best thing for me, and more importantly, Chris would have been free of you.  So, yeah,” I looked him in the eyes, “I wanted to get rid of you.”

“Wow, you must have some big balls hiding under that dress of yours to admit that to me.”

“Or maybe you’re not as scary as you think you are.”

Ace leaped up out of his seat and threw the small table aside, landing it upside down all in a clatter a few feet away.  I jumped slightly at the suddenness of it and then looked up at him now towering above me with his fists clenching at both sides. His eyes were narrowed and his expression was so dark that I was bracing myself for the blow. Whatever balls I had, I just dropped them.

“OK, so you… proved your point,” I stammered.

“You stay out of my way,” he pointed a stern finger in my face.  “You’re talkin' 'bout making me disappear; I'll make _you_ disappear. You’re nobody around here, and no one would even care that you’re gone.”

I felt a painful lump grow in my throat because there were no truer words said.  Maybe the girls would wonder, but for me to disappear as quickly as I arrived probably wouldn’t seem out of character.  Nobody cared when I disappeared from Portland. I had no one left there to care.  Anger and hate tore at me like claws on the inside; not just for Ace, but for everyone and everything that had led me to be here – by myself.  All alone.

I rose from my chair and stood up to him, not letting his height advantage get the better of me.  “Get the hell out of my diner.”  It came out as a whisper because any more volume would have broken the tears barrier that I was barely holding intact.

Ace’s eyes scanned me like he was reading every thought; like he could see everything I was feeling.

“Get out!” I screamed in his face.  The corners of my eyes leaked a little, but I was too distraught to care by then.

Ace gave me a victorious sneer before turning his back on me and walking out the door, letting it slam behind him.


	5. Blackout

The little country cottage that I called home was on the western outskirts of town, and that meant a two-mile walk to work and back.  I never did learn to drive.  James always said he’d teach me, but we never got there.  And anyway, I liked walking.  There was nothing like the crisp, clean air of a morning to wake you up, and nothing like the warm afternoon sun to escort to you home.

The only problem with walking to get around, is you rely on the weather.  Castle Rock is usually fine and warm at that time of year, but as I finished work at the diner, I saw that the sky was darkening and threatening heavy rain.  Rose flicked on the radio, and we heard that a storm was expected to hit Castle Rock head on.  She offered for me to stay the night, but I was optimistic that I could beat the worst of it home.  The winds were far too gusty for an umbrella, and so I stepped out to withstand the elements in just my cotton, knee-length waitress dress.  I was thankful I was wearing comfortable shoes because I wouldn’t be walking home that day – I’d be running.

The stores' overhanging eaves offered some shelter for the first part of my jog, but they were quickly left behind. As I pounded the pavement through the residential streets, I kept glancing up to keep a close eye on the clouds.

A fat drop splattered on my cheek and then blew off with the wind. I felt another one splat on my forehead, and then another and another until they were coming in thick and steady. I tried to trick myself into thinking that it wasn't so bad and that I could beat the worst of it if I kept up my pace. But as the steady trickle became a surging torrent, I wasn't fooling anyone. I kept up my long strides as my shoes became soaked in the puddles and my soggy dress stuck tight to my skin.

"Why couldn’t you hold out for just a little bit longer?" I yelled up at the sky as if it would hear me, take pity and ease up.

At that moment, a jet black '52 Ford pickup truck sped past me along the saturated road with its wheels spraying up water at either side. I didn't think much of it until the brake lights came on and it slowed to a stop just up ahead. Squinting in the downpour, I approached it and leaned in to look through the passenger’s side window, only to see Ace stretching across the seat to wind the window down.

There was absolutely no way in hell.

I took off at a ripping pace, much faster than I intended actually, and I instantly knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long.  But I just wanted to get away from him, and some idiotic part of my brain thought that if I ran fast enough I’d lose him.  But the black beast still crept up behind me and was soon riding alongside with its V8 engine letting out subtle growls every time Ace’s foot touched the accelerator.  The sound made me melt.

"Wanna ride?" Ace yelled out the open window, his voice extra powerful to combat the deafening, bombarding rain.

"No!"

"Come on, you're soaked! I'll give you a ride!"

I struggled to run for half a block more, and then my body betrayed me by slowing down to a fast-paced walk. My lungs were hurting, and running against the strong winds wasn’t easy.

Ace stretched over to the passenger's side to give the door a swift shove, swinging it wide open. "Cassie!  Stop being a stubborn bitch and get in the fuckin' truck!"

My frozen knees seized up, bringing me to a halt.  They knew they'd only carried me half the journey and that the last mile wouldn't get any easier.  I shot a sulky glance at Ace who was sitting comfortably in his dry surroundings – it seemed so grossly unfair.

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky just above us, and the thunder that followed boomed so loud it was almost deafening. That was as much as I could take. In a split-second decision, I swallowed my pride, dived for the open door and clambered inside.

"Weather took a turn for the worst today," he said coolly.

I didn't reply. I didn't even look at him. I just wound up the window and then sat there sulking.

"Where to?" he asked.

"I don't want a ride. As soon as this eases up a little, I'm walking home."

"This shit ain’t gonna ease up anytime soon, and I ain’t waiting here all afternoon.”

"Fine.  Then don’t bother."  I moved to open the door but he grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Whoa OK, Miss. Bossy Pants.  We'll wait a little bit."

Ace cut the engine and I eased back into my seat.  I cursed myself for not agreeing to stay with Rose and Violet.  I pictured them both wrapped up in their cozy crocheted blankets by the fire, drinking hot tea with some warm, freshly baked muffins.  Instead, I was sitting in a cold truck, drenched through to my underwear with this obnoxious and arrogant, insufferable asshole for company.

“Why did you pick me up?” I asked.  “Why didn’t you just roll down the window and laugh as you drove on by?”

“That wouldn’t have been the gentlemanly thing to do now, would it?”

I almost broke into a fit of sarcastic laughter.  But I remained composed.  “You’re the last person I would have expected to help me.”

“Now, who says I can’t be a nice guy?”

“Just cut the shit.  Tell me what you want.”

Ace relaxed back a bit like he was making himself comfortable for the long-haul.  I really began to wonder what I was in for.  “Have you figured it out yet?” he asked.

“Figured what out?”

“How I knew.”

“Maybe some of it; I’m not sure.”

“A few months back, you were picked up way out on the highway and dropped into town by a couple of guys in a blue Studebaker.”

“Vince.”

“That’s right.  There's a farmhouse a few miles back from where they got you. The guy who lives there was complaining that his place got trashed and some of his stuff got stolen.”

“OK, for the record, I didn’t trash the place.  I merely used it.  I was hurt – badly.  And there was nobody there and I had nowhere else to go.  And I only took some food and a shirt because mine was all bloody.  I was desperate.  So, whoever said-”

“Hey, I couldn’t give a fuck what you did.  It wasn’t my place.  But for a couple of weeks after Vince dropped you into town, some of the stores started noticing that stuff was going missing in the night.  But there was never any sign of a break-in.  No prints, no clues, just a bunch of missing shit. The cops never did catch the thief – probably because they were looking for a guy.”  Ace's eyes flicked over me.  “Who would've thought?”

I guessed for someone like him, he might have been impressed, but I certainly wasn’t proud of any of it.

“How did you do it?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“Get in and out without breaking the door down or smashing a window.  Without leaving the cops one damn clue to go on.”

“Sorry, that’s… I’m not gonna talk about that.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because if you go to the cops, at least you won’t be able to tell them ‘how’ I did it.  And if you don’t have a complete story… maybe.”

“I’m not going to the cops; I’d never rat someone out like that.”

“So, you’d just make me ‘disappear’ instead.  What would be your plan for that anyway?”

“I only said that ‘cause’ you fucking wound me up,” Ace huffed.  “You need to start watching what you say; mouth like that will only get you into trouble.”

I pouted out the window for a while, watching the trees blowing wildly at a vertical angle and listening to the wind howling at our feet under the thin floor of the truck.

“I picked the locks,” I whispered.

“Oh yeah?  How’d you learn how to do that?”

“James.”  It felt strange saying that name.  It was almost a year since I’d spoken it, but I thought about him every day.  Some days I thought I was over him, some days I remembered how much I hated him for what he did, but most of my time was spent giving myself a reality check that none of that mattered anymore because I’d never see him again.

“Old boyfriend?”

I shook my head.  “Not… officially.  He was a good friend for a long time, and he knew a lot different things; sometimes I called him a walking encyclopedia.  But anyway, this one time, I forgot my keys and locked myself out of the house.  My mother wasn’t answering, and so I got James to come around to open it for me.  Picked the lock.  I thought a skill like that might come in handy, and so he taught me.  Good thing because I got locked out of the house a lot.  But it also became a kind of hobby, I guess.”

“Your hobby’s picking locks?” he said with a laugh.

“The tougher the lock, the greater the challenge.  It’s like beating a puzzle box.”

“You competitive?”

“Can be.  So, is that is for the twenty questions?”

“Nope.”

“Well that’s too bad because I’m done talking.”  I wished I hadn’t mentioned James.  He was supposed to be a distant memory now; he was supposed to be gone from me.

“So, how’d you get all the way out there?”

“No more questions,” I murmured.

“Lewis left you stranded out there, didn’t he?  Did you have an argument?  Or did you just not want a life on the run?”

I glared at him, cock-eyed, like he’d just been speaking to me in fluent Chinese.  “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You are Cassie O’Connor, right?”

“Yeah…” I replied, surprised to hear him say my surname.

“Do you know where he is?”

“Where who is?”

“’Cause if you know, then the faster you fess up, the better.”

A strange feeling crept over me, making my wet and already goose bumped skin prickle.  It was a feeling of fear - fear that the big black box that had been concealing half a year of my life was about to be opened.  I wanted to keep it locked forever… although I had no idea why.

“I don’t… I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I said sharply.  “I mean, like I said, I don’t remember.  So stop asking.”

“Playing ignorant ain’t gonna work.”

“I’m not playing ignorant.  I really don’t remember.”  The cab of the truck suddenly felt tiny and claustrophobic, like it had shrunk in around me from all sides.  I wanted to get out of there, but casting myself back out into the storm would have meant getting a flu for sure.

“They will catch up with you Cassie, and if you know-”

“I don’t know!  I don’t know anything!  All I remember is being at my mother’s funeral back in October and then the next minute I’m waking up in some barn by the side of the highway with a massive gash at the back of my head, my hair matted in blood, a throbbing headache…”

It was Ace’s turn to look at me cock-eyed.  “You don’t remember anything since October?”

“Between October and early this year.”

Ace scoffed.  “You’re gonna have to come up with a better story than that.”

“I’m not lying.  I’m not trying to hide anything or anyone.”  I leaned forwards slightly on my seat and lifted my ponytail.  “Go ahead.  Feel.  Maybe I hit it on something.  I don’t know.”

Ace roughly dug his fingers into my damp hair.  He prodded around until he found the two-inch long dent which runs at an odd 45-degree angle across the back of my skull.  “Jesus, that’s been hit pretty fuckin’ hard…”

“I guess I fell.”

“Or someone’s whacked you with a crowbar…”

“Yeah.  I was afraid you'd say something like that.”

Ace took a deep sigh and rubbed his forehead with his fingers.  “The same sorta thing happened to Eyeball’s cousin.  They say his old man used to beat him so bad every night that his brain started blocking the memories out.  He doesn’t remember anything before he was ten which was when the mother finally got him outta there.”

“That’s terrible…”

“He can’t remember because he doesn’t wanna remember, and being kicked around, head traumas, that’s what set it off.”

“So, you believe me then.”

Ace paused.  “I never said that.  All I know is it’s possible.”

“I know it sounds crazy,” I murmured.  “That’s why I kept it to myself all this time.  I don’t even know why I told you.”

“Well, whether you remember him or not, if you ever catch up with this Lewis guy again, you let me know before anyone, you got it?”

“Why?”

“Because… I need to find him.”

“Why?”

“Because I just do.”

“Well, I don’t owe you shit.”  I rubbed my arms and could hardly feel my fingers.  My wet clothes had frozen me to the bone and my entire body was pleading me for a hot shower.  I sat there trembling and looking out the window, hoping that the weather would begin to ease up.  But it was just getting started.

Ace began to strip off his black, leather jacket and I did a double-take, noticing for the first time how good he looked in it.   He was wearing a clean white T-shirt tucked into light blue Levi's and every strand of his blond hair was perfectly in its place.  In contrast, he had soft stubble on his cheeks and chin like he hadn’t shaved in a week.  Tidy with just a touch of rough.  I realized my mouth was agape and closed it before mentally slapping myself for the stray thought.

Ace held the jacket out for me to take.

“It’s a bit late to try buttering me up, don’t you think?” I said through chattering teeth.

“Take it.  You sit here any longer and you’re gonna get hypothermia.”

“I’ll be just fine.”

Ace laughed to himself, shaking his head.

“What?” I demanded.  “What’s so funny?”

“I’ve known some stubborn chicks in my time, but you take the cake.”

I looked down to see that my knees were purple, and I couldn’t feel my toes.  I began to consider selling some pride for a lift home.  The reality that I could be out of the truck and standing in a hot shower in five minutes time was beginning to sound really appealing.

“Fuck this,” Ace said, and he brought the truck back to life with an ear-splitting growl. He sank his foot to the floor and we slid all over the road before regaining control and heading in the right direction.

“Where are we going?” I asked, but he didn’t answer.  He turned down a few streets and then into mine before pulling up my driveway.

“What… you knew where I lived all along?  Why didn’t you say so?”

“Knew you wouldn’t invite me in.”

“You’ve got that right,” I scowled at him.  “And don’t come by here ever again.  You hear?”  I climbed out of the truck and wanted to slam the door behind me extra hard, but the wind was holding it open so strong that I could barely close it.

I made a break for my front porch as he backed down the drive.  As I felt around under the flowerpot for my key, I heard him exploiting all the fresh, slippery wetness he could, to do one massive long peel out the entire length of my road.


	6. Essential Sentimentals

“Mom, I’m home,” I called from the living room.

“How was school, Cassie?” she called back in her frail voice which sounded twenty years too old for her.

She’d withdrawn to her bedroom three days earlier, only ever coming out to use the bathroom.  That routine was nothing abnormal for her; she did it a lot, although some weeks were better than others.  On occasion, I’d come home to see her out of bed and doing things around the house, and maybe even listening to music on the radio as she cleaned or cooked.  But as the months and the years wore on, her good weeks became less frequent.

That week had been the worst.  Every night, I was woken by her crying, and a couple of times I heard her howling out my father’s name.

I cooked a meal of chicken soup for us both and took hers into her bedroom.

“Make sure you eat this,” I told her as I set her bowl down on her bedside table.  “It’s good for you.”

“Thank you, darling,” she smiled at me from under the covers.  “It smells delicious.”

I gave her a soft kiss on the forehead before heading into the living room to eat my bowlful.  After finishing my meal, I did the washing up and then sat down to do my homework.  That was my life during the week – looking after my mom and keeping up with school.  But that night was a Friday, and I was keen to head down to Oscar’s Sports Bar to shoot some pool, but mostly I was looking forward to seeing James.

“I’m going out,” I said softly as I stood in her bedroom doorway.

“OK dear.”

I noticed that her bowl of chicken soup hadn’t been touched and she was now sitting up in bed and holding her favorite photo of her and my father on their wedding day.  She was stroking his face with her finger and muttering something that was too quiet for me to hear.

“Don’t forget to take your meds, OK?”

“I won’t,” she replied, still stroking the photo.

“I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Cassie, come here.”

I entered the room and sat on the edge of the bed at her side.  She clasped one of my hands with a bony one of hers and placed her other hand on my cheek.  “You’re a good girl, and your father would’ve been proud of you,” she smiled.

“Thanks…”

“I know things haven’t been easy on you.  I know I’ve been a burden-”

“Mom, don’t say that.  Everything’s fine.  We cope, right?”

“No, you’ve looked after me for far too long now, and it shouldn’t be this way.  It’s not fair on you.  But things will get better soon.  I promise.”  She pulled me closer to gently kiss me on the forehead.  “Your father and I love you, Cassandra.  Never forget that.”

Three hours later, I came home from Oscar’s.  As soon as I walked through the front door a cold, eerie feeling crawled over me that made my skin break out into goosebumps.  It was a feeling of being completely alone.  I crept down the hallway and into my mother’s room.  She was out of bed and sitting in her rocking chair.  The bedside lamp shone just enough light onto her face for me to see that her eyes were closed and her lips were pale blue.  Both of her hands were loosely laying in her lap; one was still holding her wedding photo and the other held an empty medication bottle.

_——_

I was sitting up in bed, hugging my knees and staring at the sheets that were damp with sweat and tears.  It was the same position I’d been in for the past few hours.  The dream was so vivid; I had remembered every detail - every little object in her room, her voice, the perfume my father gave her that she always wore - it was like reliving what had happened.

But as the hours went by, it faded from me and seemed like a distant memory once again.  Except for that photo she’d been holding.  I felt like I’d seen it much more recently.  We kept all of our family photos in a shoebox – it was light-blue and had lace glued around the rim of the lid - and I had the image of that exact box tucked away at the back of a closet, hidden under some kind of dark cloth.  These were photos of my mother and father before they were even married, of when they were babies, of my grandparents and of when I was a baby.  My favorite photo was one of me sitting on my father’s knee as we looked out over the ocean at a beach Santa Cruz - I was three years old.  These were precious to me, and I just hoped my dream was telling me right and that they were still in the place I had left them… wherever in the world that may have been.

All that day as I worked in the diner, I strained to remember more about the place I had seen but I couldn’t.  It was so stressful, like trying to remember someone’s name that you’d forgotten – you know you know it; it’s right on the tip of your tongue, but no matter how hard you try it just doesn’t come to you.  By the end of the day, all I had to show for my hard work was a headache.

After finishing all of my duties for the day, I locked the front door of the diner and then stood on the sidewalk looking at the mess that the storm had left behind.  Some areas of town had had power outages, there were fallen and uprooted trees and even a couple of house roofs had been lifted.  I thought back to my ride home with Ace.  He seemed to know stuff.  Useful stuff.  Stuff that nobody else would know – not even me, apparently.  And I bet that if I had any chance of finding those photos, it would be through him.

-2-

The pungency of cigarettes and booze hit my senses as I stepped foot in the smoky poolhall.  It was a Saturday afternoon and the bar had a full house.  Jerry Lee Lewis’s _Real Wild Child_ raved on the jukebox at the back of the room through the hubbub of conversation and the sounds of billiard balls clinking together.  The four pool tables that were laid out in the center of the room were jammed with patrons, and the rustic, wooden bar to the far right kept the old guys entertained as they threw wild bets at the game of baseball that was playing on a television above them.

It reminded me so much of Oscar’s.  I almost felt like I should see James behind the bar.  But the barman didn’t look nearly as friendly as James.  He was middle-aged, 6ft and solid - just the right type of guy to front a place where alcohol goes down like water.  He stared straight at me from underneath his thick, heavy eyebrows as he poured a guy a beer from one of the taps.  I had read the sign before entering - it quite clearly stated “NO MINORS” in bright red capital letters, but I hoped to get what I came for before being kicked out.

It looked like I would need to move fast.

I put my head down and shouldered my way through the crowd, trying my best to disappear into it entirely.  Ace was on the table furthest back, right next to the jukebox.  Just like the barman, he hadn’t missed a beat.  He leaned on his pool cue, expressionless and staring straight at me as we caught glimpses of each other through the gaps in the crowd.

“You were easy to find,” I said as I reached him.

He snatched his beer bottle off the top of the jukebox and chugged the rest of it back before stamping it down on the edge of the pool table in front of him.  “Your timing’s impeccable.  Bar’s over there.”

“I didn’t…” I was going to say, _I didn_ _’t come here to buy you a drink_ , but thought better of it.  I figured I would have to play nice if I were to get any information out of him.  I could always go back to hating him again afterward.  “I didn’t think the barman would sell to me.”

Ace looked over to the barman who was watching us carefully as he served his customers.  Ace gave him a slight nod and the barman sighed deeply.  “Joe will sell to you.  Now go get me a beer.  And one for Charlie.”

I looked at the lean and wiry, blond headed guy who had stopped mid-turn at the arrival of this new face in the waitress dress.  He raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips together in a half-smile to acknowledge me.

I did the same in return before moving past them both to head towards Joe the brawny barman.  He leaned rigidly on his bar as he stared at me from under those thick eyebrows without blinking.  I could feel my face blushing under the pressure as I prepared myself to come face to face with him.  I squeezed into the widest gap I could find which was between two old men who both leered at me in a way that made me cringe inside.

Joe breathed a heavy sigh and shook his head.  “Not another one.  I’m gonna lose my license, mark my words.”  He then grabbed three beers from the refrigerator behind him and set them down on the bar in front of me.

Out of guilt, I put a whole dollar on the counter to make it seem more worth his while, and he snatched it up and moved on.

“You bought me two.  How thoughtful,” Ace said as I handed him and Charlie their beers.

“Consider it payment for the information you’re about to give me.”

Ace cracked the top off his first bottle.  “Soon.  Leaving the table forfeits the game and that money’s mine.”  Ace nodded at the small stack of dollar bills on the edge of the table and then leaned over to take a shot.  He smoothly pocketed the ten into the corner of the table.

“Do you play?” he asked me.

“No…”  The lie fell out of my mouth.  It had been months since I last picked up a cue, and I felt rusty just watching Ace and Charlie play.  I didn’t want to be pulled into a game and end up embarrassing myself in front of them.

I watched Ace’s game intently, paying close attention to detail.  I studied the way he held the cue, the decisions he made, the types of shots he was best at and those he seemed to favor.  His form was one of the smoothest I’d seen.

Ace pocketed the eight with a very difficult cross-corner bank shot which he made look easy.  “I should teach you sometime.”

“OK,” I shrugged.

He led me through the back door of the noisy bar and out into the dusty backstreet.  He leaned against the brick exterior and took a swig from his second beer.  “What do you wanna know?”

“I have some… sentimental items somewhere out there and I want to find them.  I need to find them.”

“You wanna know your last address.”

“Yes.”

“I dunno what that is.”

“Oh.”

“But… I might be able to find out.”

“Really?”

“But it’ll come with a cost.”

“I can buy you a six-pack…”

Ace smiled.  “OK, you do that.  But that’s not what I meant.  There’s some guys who are looking for you, and if anyone knows where you used to live, it’ll be them.”

“So, what you’re saying is that, in order to ask them for the address… you’ll have to give me up.”

“Exactly.”

“OK… so, who are these guys?”

“Just a bunch of notorious mob men,” he said before taking another swig.

“Mob men?” I spat.  “What do they want with me?”

“Who they _really_ want is Lewis.  He ripped them off and then disappeared.  And you, Cassie O’Connor, were the last person to see him.”

“And um… what makes them think that?”  I felt breathless as I assumed and dreaded the answer.

“Because you’re his girlfriend.”

I leaned against the wall next to him and sighed.  Lewis.  The name didn’t sound even remotely familiar.  It both baffled and amazed me how I was supposed to know this person, probably intimately, and yet I couldn’t even put a face to the name.

“What you wanna do?” Ace asked.

“I don’t know.  What if these guys think I might know where he is, like you did?  What am I gonna tell them?”

“Just tell them the truth – that he knocked you out and left you for dead.  I can vouch that Vince picked you up alone out on the highway.”

“You’re gonna be there?”

“Course,” he shrugged.  Ace took one last swig of his beer before smoothly swinging it into the trashcan a few feet away.  “Be ready to go tomorrow.  We’ll be leaving early.”


	7. On the Road Again

I was skeptical Ace would turn up early.  In fact, I didn’t think he’d turn up at all.  But I still rolled out of bed at 7 am and patiently waited for him on my front steps.  I was nervous about who I might meet that day but had to find my photos.  They were all I had left of my family, and it was my responsibility to keep them safe.

My ears soon caught the distinctive sound of a V8 rumbling down the street.  The rumble grew louder until a patchy-gray ‘49 Ford Custom convertible bullishly pulled into my driveway.

“Who do you lo-ove?  Who do you love?” Ace sang over top of the Bo Diddley song that was blaring on the radio.  He braked sharply right beside the steps where I sat and then turned the music down a fraction before taking a long drag on his cigarette.

“Wow, you actually came.  And on time,” I said.

Ace took one last puff and then flicked the smoking butt into my pretty rose garden.  “Just get in the car.”

I clunked the heavy door open and slipped into the dark leather interior.  The car had a faint smell that reminded me of the aftermath of a drunken party - one where everyone drinks too much, someone vomits in the car on the way home, and nobody does a great job of scrubbing it clean the next day.  I cringed at the thought.  But the purr under the hood made up for it.  As we drove through the streets of Castle Rock, I couldn’t help but lay back and feel the growls move through me every time his foot touched the gas.  I was so absorbed in the sound of the car that it didn’t even occur to me that I was openly traveling in Ace’s soft-top, with Ace in it, for everyone in town to see and know about.

As soon as we hit the main highway out of town, Ace sunk his pedal to the floor.  We flew past the ‘You are leaving Castle Rock’ sign at 75mph, and then he suddenly lifted his lead foot and turned down a long gravel driveway.  A hard yank on the handbrake brought the car to a snakey stop outside a small, sad-looking house.  The white weatherboards were dirty with dust and road grime, and the rusted tin roof sagged as it hung over the low front porch which was so full of holes and gaps it could easily claim an ankle.  The lawns had free reign over the yard, growing as high as the wild scrub that bordered the property.  Away to the right, hidden amongst creepers and vines, sat a large, wooden garage, and back some to my left lazed the stripped-down body of a 1940 Willys Coupe on blocks.

“Wait here,” he said.  He left the door ajar and then disappeared inside.

I waited in the secluded basin.  It felt nice sitting out there for a moment, way out in the country air, feeling the warm morning sun on my cheeks with the V8 humming around me.  The storm that had torn up the town during the week had passed, and it was looking to be a beautiful, blue-sky Sunday.

Ace finally returned and tossed a couple of six-packs onto the bench seat between us.

“What are you doing?  You’re driving…”

“So?” he shrugged.  “I could drink all of these and still drive.  You just sit there and watch me.”  He cracked open a can, chugged half of it back and then let out a belch so deep it scraped the gravel.

“Wow… that was from the heart…”

“They only get better,” he said before taking another greedy mouthful.

We headed out again along the rural road which had been void of traffic since we got on it.

“Is this the road they picked me up on?” I asked, scanning the area.

“Yep.”

“Why is it always so empty?”

“’Cause it doesn’t go anywhere, that’s why.  Not since the 30’s.  They built a new highway, way out that way, that’s faster to Chamberlain,” he pointed east.

“Do you know where the farmhouse is?”

“Not for a few miles yet.”  Ace glared at me.  “You’re lucky he picked you up, you know.  You should be grateful.”

“I know.  I am.  Just don’t tell _him_ that, OK?”

Ace snickered to himself as he looked out at the road ahead.

———

I had been trudging along the deserted highway for what seemed like hours.  Not one car had gone by.  The mid-winter chill in the air went straight through the old knitted cardigan I’d taken from the farmhouse, and the insides of my jeans felt icy against my legs.  The miles I’d covered had burned through any sustenance I gained from breakfast, leaving me hungry and dehydrated.  I wished I’d grabbed some supplies before leaving but had hightailed it out of one of the upstairs windows at the shock of seeing the owners arrive home.

I didn’t know how much further I would have to walk or where I would end up when I got there.  All I could do was keep up the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other.

The Studebaker came up behind me fast, seemingly out of nowhere.  I barely had time to put my thumb out.  A few derogatory jeers were thrown out the window as it screamed past within a whisker of knocking me down.  I stood in the swirling gusts of wind left at their tail, raising two middle fingers and throwing out a few remarks of my own.

The brakes came on, bringing the car to a sliding stop in a cloud of dust and smoke.  The guy threw the car into reverse and began backing wildly towards me.  At first, I didn’t _really_ think he’d run me over… but as he headed straight for me at speed and showed no signs of slowing, I believed it wholeheartedly.  I jumped into the shallow ditch on the side of the road just as he slammed on the brakes and slid into the dirt, stopping just short of knocking me down.

I stood frozen as I gaped at the rear bumper that rested just touching my left leg.  The driver staunchly climbed out of the car with a cocky smirk on his face.

“How long you been walkin’ for?” he asked, strutting forward with his thumbs jammed into the front pockets of his jeans.

“Not long.”

“Whatever,” he snickered.  “You look like you’re gonna collapse.”

I was on the verge of telling him I was fine but bit back my stubbornness.  Who knew when the next car would come along?  “OK, maybe I’ve been walking a while…”

His eyebrows lowered as he put an ape-like sarcastic expression on his face.  “So then, why would you treat someone who might be able to help you, with so little respect?”

I growled inside.  Honestly, I despised that guy from the minute I met him but had to submit.  “Are you offering me a ride?” I reluctantly murmured.

“Sure, I’ll give you a ride… on one condition.”

“And what might that be?”

“That you get on your knees and beg for it,” he smiled.

How I wanted to slap him.

“Go on, I’m serious.  On your knees.”

I felt my cheeks heat up with humiliation against the cold air as I looked down at the gravel and dirt.

The passenger’s side door opened and a guy with a jet-black ducktail stuck his head out.  “Come on Vince, stop fucking around!  If she don’t wanna ride, just leave her here!”

As Vince turned to yell back at his buddy, I took the brief moment of his distraction as an opportunity to make a dash for the open driver’s door.  He tried to grab my arm to stop me but I slipped out of his grip, ducked into the car and scrambled over into the back seat.

The passenger sniggered as he watched Vince brush the dusty shoe-prints off the driver’s seat.

“What are you laughing at, Billy?” he scowled.

——

The car veered sharply to the left, jolting me out of a light slumber.

“Wakey wakey,” Ace said before taking another swig from his can.

“Are we there yet?” I said dozily.

“Does it look like we’re there?”

“Then why did you wake me up?”

“I’m bored.”  Ace tilted his head to motion behind him.  “Grab that in the back.”

Curious, I twisted around and searched the back seat.  “Grab what?  There’s nothing here but a baseball bat.”

“Yeah.  Get it.”

I lugged the chipped and dented hunk of wood over to the front and stared at it dumbly, wondering what on earth he’d want it for.

“See these mailboxes coming up along here?” he pointed, beer in hand.  “See how many you can knock off.”

“What… are you out of your mind?”

“Ten swings is all you get.  And don’t smash any.  Get more than me, and I’ll let you off on buying me that six-pack.”

I looked ahead at the mailboxes in the distance and then at the bat in my hands.  “That’s someone’s property…”

“It’s a piece of tin on a post - they can nail it back on.  Jesus, you sound like my grandmother having an anxiety attack.  You’re always so uptight.”

“I am not!”

“Then lean over the side and take a swing.  I thought you said you’re competitive.”

“Yeah, but…” I was about to go off on more of a rant about my moral standing on this, but then I began to imagine the satisfaction I’d feel at beating him at his own game.  “OK, how about this?  If you win, I’ll buy you two six-packs.  If I win, you buy me a bottle of Jack Daniels.”

“Ooh, OK - you like the hard stuff, huh?  Not that it matters, ‘cos you ain’t gonna win.”

“Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” I steadied myself as I knelt on the seat and held the bat over the side of the car.

“Here they come, get ready,” he said, the excitement building up in his voice.

I drew the bat back and then swung powerfully at an upward angle… a little too powerfully.  Bat met tin and the mailbox flew some way high into the air before coming crashing down hard on the road far behind us.

“Woohoo!  That’a girl,” he roared, leaning over to slap me hard on the backside.

I nearly dropped the bat.

Ace slurped up the last mouthful of his can and tossed it carelessly over the side of the car before reaching for another.  “Keep goin’.”

I took three more swings and easily knocked each mailbox of their wooden posts but couldn’t help apologizing out to the owners for each one.  For my fifth shot, just as I drew the bat back to make the swing, Ace playfully veered the car away making me slouch over the side and droop the bat low.

“Hey!” I cried out.  “That’s cheating!”

“My game, my rules,” he smirked to himself.

“Except you wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t find me a threat!”

“Look, if you want me to go easy on you-”

“Just keep driving,” I grumbled.

I got the next two, and then for my eighth, just as I was pulling back to swing, he floored it.  The force of the momentum made me lose my balance, and I nearly lost the bat over the side of the car.

“Missed,” he said.

“You can’t count that!  I didn’t even swing!”

“Two left.”

“You…” The range of nouns that fitted onto the end of that statement was too vast to choose from.

Now I was fired up and more determined than ever.  I swung again with all the power I could without even thinking about what he’d said earlier.  _Don_ _’t smash any._ Well, I smashed it alright.  Chips of wood flew high among papers and pamphlets before scattering and littering the side of the road.

“Sorry!” I yelled out.  There’d be no gluing that one back together.

I felt the car slowing down and so looked back over my shoulder at Ace to see what the matter was.  He stopped right there on the highway and then got out to walk around to the passenger’s side.

“Can’t you count?  I’ve still got one left!” I protested.

“I said don’t smash any.  That’s it, end of your innings, girl.”  He snatched the bat off me and clunked the door open.  “Six, I’m sure I can beat a pathetic six.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.  I’ve never driven a car in my life,” I muttered.

“Well, then it’s about time you learned.  Shove over, I’ll show you.”

As I scooted across the seat, I had a quick flashback of when James told me he would teach me.  This moment used to be reserved for him; I never imagined for a moment that someone like Ace would be the one to do it.  But, I had everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Having Ace as my driving teacher was a bizarre experience.  He lost the arrogant attitude and explained everything patiently, becoming more enthusiastic when he diverged onto a ‘how the engine works’ tangent.  It seemed obvious to me that cars were his passion, and when I felt that pussycat purr under my foot I thought they’d just become mine.

Once Ace finished his lessons, he took the bat in his hands and leaned over the side of the car.  I had every intention of playing by ‘his’ rules.  But no matter how much I tried to swerve, brake or speed up just before he took a swing, he still managed to get his ten and gloated about it the rest of the way.  Luckily for me, we didn’t have much further to drive before arriving at our destination - the kind of mansion you'd usually only see in the magazines.


	8. Unfinished Business

We’d now been driving for an hour and were way out in the countryside when I caught sight of a mansion sitting proudly within the vast landscape.

“Nice, huh?” Ace said as I pointed it out.

To my surprise, he turned off the road and drove through the beautifully detailed, black, wrought iron gates that fronted the property.  A wide strip of paved brick led us down a scenic drive of open space and tall willows to where a giant stone fountain spurted water high into the air.  We circled around the fountain to park right outside the mansion.  When Ace turned off the engine, only the sound of the water raining down into the pool could be heard.

I took a moment to gaze up at the stately, two-story building that towered over us.  It was rectangular shaped with countless windows lining the two floors, and the six stone pillars that stretched from the base right up to the top of the second story were what gave the mansion its look of grandeur.  I don’t know what I had been expecting, but it sure wasn’t that.

Ace got out of the car, but I didn’t move.  I couldn’t.  The nerves that I had managed to keep quiet throughout the journey had suddenly come out to play.  They were looping and diving around my stomach, making me feel slightly nauseous.

“Are you comin’ or what?” he asked.

“I don’t know about this…”

Ace frowned, expressing his annoyance.  “What’s your problem?”

“I’ve got a bad feeling…”

“Too late to pussy out now,” he said firmly.  “Let’s go.”

I reluctantly got out and then followed him up the wide, stone steps that led to the large double doors.  He confidently knocked on the beautifully varnished wood with the big brass knocker while I stood a cautious couple of feet behind him.  My heart was pounding.

“Look,” Ace said, “all that talk about not remembering shit, keep it to yourself.  You tell them that and they’re gonna think you’re hiding something.  And they don’t play around.  You got it?”

I heard the sound of a deadlock being released and then one of the doors swung open wide.  The doorman was short, stocky and dressed in the formal attire of a black suit and bow tie, but he stood with his shoulders slightly slouched forwards and reached out to slap Ace’s hand to greet him.

“Ace.  Here again?  Who you seein’ this time?”

“Carl.”

“Oh, not the girl, huh?” he smirked.

“You just keep that quiet, Lorenzo,” Ace said with a smooth smile, pointing a warning finger in the guy’s face.

“And who’s this?” Lorenzo nodded at me.

“Christmas bonus come late,” Ace said lowly with a laugh as if he thought I wouldn’t hear.

“You both clean?”

“Course we are.”

“I know, Ace, but I at least gotta ask.  I’m s’posed to frisk you; you know that.”

“I got nothin’,” Ace said raising his arms.  “Now take us to the big boy.”

Lorenzo stepped aside and I stuck close to Ace as we entered the impressive entrance room.  Lavish seating, gold trimmed mirrors and fine artwork had been elegantly arranged, and the vast spread of white marble flooring was so finely polished you could see your reflection under your feet.  Seeing my tired-looking runners against the beautiful marble made me blush.

“This way,” Lorenzo gestured.

He led us down a long marble hallway that had various expensive-looking art pieces and sculptures displayed on raised pillars at either side.  I wondered how much moolah surrounded us in just that one area.  We walked through a set of large doors to enter what looked like the central room to the house.  I rolled my eyes from one side of the room to the other in awe.  Italian classical music filled the air, lavish furniture was dotted from wall to wall and the ceiling was a painted masterpiece.

“Wait here,” he said.  He walked far away to the other side of the room and then disappeared through a door.

“This place stinks of money,” I whispered, more to myself than to Ace.

“Yup,” he replied, gazing around himself.  “And money is power.”

Two men walked through the doorway that Lorenzo had just departed through.  The one on the left was tall and slim, and the other was built like a brick shit-house.

“Diego…” Ace murmured.  His smugness seemed to suddenly dissipate from him and he straightened his posture as if bracing himself for what was coming.

“Who?” I whispered.

“On the left.  The boss.  Carl’s on the right.”

Tall and slim, Diego was middle-aged and dressed formally in an expensive-looking, white suit.  He walked towards us with purpose and without emotion.  His brown eyes were set so deeply into the dark sockets of his skull, they looked black.  They were hard, hard eyes; firm, fearless and uncompromising.  They locked onto me as he strode across the floor and I awkwardly tried to avoid them by gazing around at the room’s paintings and artifacts. 

“Well, I’ll be damned.  Cassie,” Carl said in a deep, smoky voice as they reached us.

I was surprised that he seemed to know me, and I didn’t know how to respond.  He looked slightly younger than his boss but dressed just as sharply, and his dark hair was slicked back into a low ponytail.  Carl’s frame was broad and his shoulders were like basketballs.  I figured that when Diego needed muscle, he called on this guy.

Diego slipped a thick envelope out from the inner pocket of his jacket and held it out to Ace, but didn’t take those rigid, scrutinizing eyes off me for a moment.  “I believe you were promised this for your troubles,” he said.  “I’m sure you can see yourself out.”

Ace frowned at Diego and cautiously took the envelope.  I kinda got the feeling that he was expecting some of Diego’s business to be with him.  “I’ll wait in the car,” he said.

“But…” I started as he turned to leave.  No way did I want to be left alone with these guys.

“I won’t go without you,” he said, and then he walked away, envelope in hand.

I felt like I’d just been fed to the wolves.

The two men led the way up a grand, antique staircase to the second floor and into a small sitting room - small for a place like this.

Carl gestured for me to take a white loveseat with gold trimming while he and Diego sat in single chairs of the same style, opposite it.

I did as I was told, doing my best to keep my nerves at bay.  Diego relaxed back with one hand on each of the chair’s arms and crossed his legs in front of him.  He stared at me without a glimpse of emotion.  I bet that not even the funniest joke in the world could’ve made him crack a smile.

“So, Cassie, how you been?” Carl asked.

My mouth felt dry as I opened it to answer.  “Surviving…”

“It’s been a long time since we last spoke.”

“Yes… yes, it has.”

“A long time maybe, but don’t think I’ve forgotten about our deal.”

“Deal?”

“You said you would bring me Lewis and in return I would give you your freedom from him.”

“Oh… well about that… I don’t know where he is… right now.”

Carl and Diego glanced at each other.

“And what about the money?” Carl asked.

“Um… money?”

“Cassie… you said you had it somewhere safe.”

I went cold.  Ace never said anything about any money.  I wasn’t prepared for this.  I agreed that I shouldn’t talk about my memory loss, but playing along with this any other way seemed impossible.  My skin began to dampen with sweat.  “Oh… well… I’m having trouble remembering details.”

“Is that so?” he scoffed.  “Well, let me remind you then.  You said Lewis cashed in on the goods he stole from us and hid the money.  You then moved that money to keep it safe for me.  You were supposed to wait for us at the main Tavern in Motton; we were gonna come for him, you would take us to the money and then go your own way.  Well, my guys were at that Tavern within five minutes and you weren’t there.  What happened?”

“I don’t know.  Something must’ve gone wrong.  Maybe he caught on to what was happening, because… Lewis… he tried to kill me.”

“He tried to kill you?”

“Blunt force to the back of the head.  It’s affected my memory… quite substantially.”  I cringed inside as I said it, but I didn’t have any other story to fall back on.

“Do you think you can play us, girl?” Diego said smoothly.  The suddenness of his voice made me jump.  “Do you think we’re stupid?  Maybe Lewis did try to kill you - we know he’s capable of it - but I don’t believe for a second that you’ve simply forgotten where you hid thirty thousand dollars.”

“Thirty thousand dollars?” I gaped at him, stunned.  The figure knocked the wind out of me so much that I had to consciously focus on getting my breath back.

“Did you think we’d simply let that kind of money go?” Carl said.

I figured that if I was the only person who knew where it was, then it must still be where I hid it.  My head was racing and my heart was beating the blood around my body so fast I felt faint.  And then an idea hit me.

“Do you have my last address?  Maybe it’s there.  It must be there.  Do you know where Lewis and I used to live?”

Carl cocked an eyebrow at the question.  He took a notepad and pen out of his pocket, wrote down the address and handed it to me.  I noticed that he had also written down his phone number.

“When you have the money, ring me and I’ll have my boys come collect it,” Carl said.

I was too scared to bring up the possible scenario of me not having the money, and so I left it at that.  The money had to be there - pure and simple.

“Thirty-one thousand dollars, in our hands by tonight,” Diego said, his dark eyes creasing with a threatening stare.

“Wait… I thought you said thirty thousand… even.”

“It cost me a thousand to find you.  I want that money back.”

“You gave Ace a thousand…”

“You’re free to go,” Diego said.

He didn’t need to tell me twice.  I’d never walked so fast.  I headed down the hall, down the antique staircase, across the huge center room and then through the hallway of expensive sculptures.  Then, just as I entered the marble entrance room, I saw something that made me hit the brakes and retract back around the corner.

Ace was there with a girl.  I snuck another peek.  Her black hair ran mid-length down her back, and her pretty, dark eyes sparkled as she gazed into Ace’s like a love-sick puppy.

“In a few weeks I’ll be staying in the townhouse for a while,” she said in a low voice that was almost a whisper.  “Things are easier there - no security… just my drunken mother…”

“A few weeks!  I can’t wait a few weeks!”

“Well, you’ll just have to,” she said with a sultry smile.  “You know I’m worth it.”

“Hmmm…” he said, drawing her in even tighter.

“You knew this wouldn’t be easy.”

“No, it’s damned near impossible.”

“There’s nothing I can do about that.”  She glanced in my direction and I pulled back, hoping she didn’t see me.  “I should go.”

There was nowhere for me to hide, nowhere for me to run except back down the long hallway, but I doubted I would make it to the end in time.

The pair went silent, and I imagined they would be saying their goodbyes.  As soon as I heard her heels clicking on the marble, I stepped out into the entrance way as if I’d just arrived.

“Hi…” I said awkwardly.

Still with that sultry smile, her pretty, dark eyes scanned me from head to toe.  She flicked her long black hair over her shoulder before brushing my arm as she passed me.

I gave Ace a quizzical look, only to see his gaze firmly fixed to her shapely rear as it swung to and fro in her tight-fitting, red dress.  As the girl left his sight, he sidestepped to recapture his view.

“Come on, Loverboy,” I said, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him towards the door.  “We’ve got things to do.”

-2-

“I got the address,” I said as we climbed into the car.

“Good for you.” Ace fired the ignition and the car came to life.

“I need you to take me there today.  Now.”

“I did my part,” he scoffed.  “Find your own way.”

“Oh, you sure did,” I scowled.  “And you were paid handsomely for it.  That money I earned you more than covers your costs of taking me to where I need to go, so let’s go.”

Ace glared at me and appeared to reconsider.  I sensed he knew I had a point.

“Take me.”

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you manners?”

I sighed and gave in.  “Please.  Please, Ace?”

Ace reached over and snatched the piece of paper out of my hand.  “Hutt.”

“Do you know it?”

“Yeah, I know it.  It’s two fucking hours away.”  He tossed the bit of paper back at me.

“Then we’d better get going.”

Ace heaved a deep breath to show his disapproval of the arrangement before turning his attention to the road and sinking his foot to the floor.

Neither of us spoke for the entire journey.  Ace didn’t touch his last two beers, and there were no offers for a rematch of our baseball game.  I assumed his mind was heavily set on the girl, and I was consumed with worry about the money.  The two hours dragged on, but we eventually arrived in the tiny, pass-through town of Hutt.

The main street was anything but bustling.  There were only two stores open, and the rest had closed signs hanging in the windows.  There were a couple of people loitering around which was the only thing that stopped it from feeling like a ghost town.  I was almost expecting to see tumbleweed come rolling by.

Two streets down, Ace pulled into the driveway of a single-storied, run-down house on a tiny section that badly needed the lawns mowed.  The place was in dire need of attention with peeling clapboard, torn curtains and a couple of smashed windows.  I looked down at the address for the millionth time as if we might have made a mistake.

Ace killed the engine, and we just sat for a moment.

“Looks like the place is still empty,” he said.  “You gonna check it out?”

I got out and did a full circular lap of the house, hands in the back pockets of my jeans.  I peered in through the windows as best I could, but there wasn’t much to see apart from crappy broken furniture.  It was definitely empty.

Ace had gotten out of the car and was at the front door, rattling the door handle.  “You want me to kick it in?” he asked as I joined him.

I tried turning the knob myself and briefly inspected the lock.  I pulled out a thick piece of bent wire from the back pocket of my jeans – one of a few small lock-picking tools I carried with me.  It seemed silly to take them with me wherever I went, but those pieces of scrap metal had been my lifeline for the first weeks after I arrived in Castle Rock and I still couldn’t part with them.

I skillfully inserted my wire into the lock.  I poked around until I felt the lever lift and then turned it over to unlock the door.

“Fuck me…” Ace said.

“No thank you.”  I gently pushed the door in, and it opened with a loud, rusty creak.

The place had been messed up like someone had been looking for something but thought they may as well smash everything else in sight while they were at it.  Furniture had been overturned, cabinets were shattered, draws had been scattered and holes had been kicked in nearly every wall.  Something was niggling at me as I stared inside - a feeling.  A claustrophobic feeling like I couldn’t breathe.  I just wanted to get out.  But I had to get what I came for.

“We’re looking for a shoebox,” I said.  “It’s light-blue with lace around it.”

By this point, I was quite certain that Ace had no clue about Diego and Carl’s money, and I was hoping to keep it that way.  I didn’t trust him.  If I found it, I planned to keep it hidden from him and then make him leave before somehow calling Carl to come and collect it.  I would worry about my ride home once the load was off my shoulders.

Ace took the first bedroom and I took the second, larger one which looked like the master bedroom.  I scoured the room thoroughly and even thought to check for loose floorboards.

“Got it,” he called from the other room.

“Already?”  I was happy that my photos were found, but it was only a fraction of the joy and excitement that I would’ve felt if I hadn’t been so consumed with worry.

“I got it,” Ace said from the doorway, shoebox in hand.

“Oh, great… thanks.”  I stood from my kneeling position on the floor and then pushed past him to check another room.

“Are we leaving now, or what?”

“There’s just… something else I need to… well, I’d like to look around some more to see if anything triggers a memory.”

“Well, hurry up.  I got shit to do tonight.”  He dropped the box on the floor at his feet before heading out the front door, back to the car.

I searched the house from wall to wall, ceiling to floor.  I got up into the roof through the attic door and checked every floorboard.  A terrifying feeling sat in the pit of my stomach and grew heavier with every room I gave up on.  My search soon turned frantic.  I yanked the draws out of the kitchen counters and ripped the overturned sofas apart.

A shovel was leaning up against the wall in the laundry, and I grabbed it before marching out the front door.  I scanned the area for spots where the grass didn’t grow and began to dig.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Ace laughed.  He had walked up behind me and I hadn’t noticed.

I brushed a sweaty strand of hair out of my eyes and continued to dig.  “If you don’t wanna wait, just go.”

“What’s goin’ on?”

“I’m… looking for something that should be here,” I said between frantic breaths.

“You do remember I found your stupid box before, right?”

“Not that… something else.”

“What?”

I continued to dig.  “Oh God… this can’t be happening…”

Ace grabbed the shovel and ripped it out of my hands before tossing it aside.  “Tell me what’s goin’ on.”

The anxiety and pressure had built up so much that I was quivering.

“Tell me what the fuck’s going on, Cassie.  Now!”

“They say I owe them money,” I blurted out.

“How much?”

“Thirty… thirty-one thousand dollars.”

Ace’s jaw dropped.  “How?”

“Lewis stole it… kind of… and I hid it from him to keep it safe for Carl, but I don’t know where because I can’t remember.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”

I gave him a sharp look.

“You thought I’d snatch it and leave you high and dry?”

“It’s thirty grand.  Wouldn’t you have?”

Ace seemed to think about it for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s what I thought.  And by the way, it’s only thirty- _one_ thousand because of the _one_ they gave you.”

“They want you to pay that back?  Shit.”

“So, unless you’re gonna help me, leave me.”  I bent to pick up the shovel and then continued working on my hole.

“How do you even know you buried it?”

“I just… had a sudden wind of inspiration to dig.”

Ace watched me for a while - maybe ten minutes or so.  I’d look up at him every now and then as if to say, “What are you still doing here?” and he’d be frowning like he was deep thought.

“There’s this kid - Billy’s brother, Vern.  You know him?” he said.

“No.”

“He buried a jar of pennies under his front porch to hide them from Billy and wrote a map so he wouldn’t forget where he put ‘em.  But the fuckin’ dumbass didn’t think that maybe Billy would find the map.  Vern’s been diggin’ under that porch for over a year now, and every time, he comes out with nothin’ but dirty hands.”

“And nobody’s told him that they’re not there to find?”

“You’re missin’ the point.  What I’m sayin’ is, you could be diggin’, you could be searching forever and not find squat.  Who’s to say that Lewis didn’t know where you hid the money?  Who’s to say he’s not livin’ it up large down on the coast of Mexico or somewhere?”

“But I don’t know what else to do.”

“Every week, Vern crawls out from under that porch filthy and feelin’ sorry for himself.  Think of all the time he’s spent digging for ten measly dollars.  He could’ve gone out and made that money back ten times over.”

“But I’m not digging for ten dollars; this is thirty thousand dollars.  It would take me ten years to save that kind of money.  And I don’t have ten years.  They want it by today.  If the money’s not here… I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do to me.”

Ace looked me firmly in the eyes.  “Stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something about it.”

I tossed the spade away in anger and it skidded into the long grass.  I stormed back into the house to grab my box before heading back to the car, slamming the heavy door as best I could.

Ace got behind the wheel and I refused to look at him.

“You wanna know what they’ll do?” he said.  “They’ll make you work it off.  They’ll put you in a pretty dress and line you up amongst all the other… you get the picture.”

“Eww…” I grabbed one of his last beers and expected some backlash for it, but it never came.  I don’t usually drink beer, but a sedative in any form seemed like a good one at that point.  I cracked it open and got a large swig into me while he took the last can for himself.

I looked down at the shoebox on my lap and lifted the lid.  The photo of my mother and father on their wedding day was on top.  I felt guilty for being so unhappy to see it, and yet I also felt that my disrespect was justified.

“Is that your mom?” Ace said, startling me a little.  “She’s real pretty.”

I took a while to answer.  “Yes, she’s my mom.”

“What happened to her?”

“She couldn’t handle my father’s death.  She was weak.”  I put the lid back onto the box as I couldn’t bear to look at her any longer.  “I don’t know what to feel.  I should love her… I did love her… and yet, I hate her.  She should be here for me right now.  She should have been there for me my whole life.”

“Maybe you just need to let her go,” Ace said, staring out towards the house.

I wiped away some stray tears with the short sleeve of my shirt and then looked at him with interest.  “Did something happen to your mom too?” I asked.

“She walked out on me when I was six.”

“Oh… sorry.  Why did she leave?”

Ace shook his head.  “That’s all you get.”  He reached over to pop open the glove box in front of me and snatched up a zippo and his packet of cigarettes.  He stuck one behind his ear and then pulled one from the pack with his lips before lighting up.

“I can help you get the money,” he said, flipping his zippo closed.

I stared at him, taken aback.  “Seriously?”

“If you can buy us the time, I can get you the cash.”

“OK, I could try.  How much time?”

“Couple months,” he shrugged.  “At least.  Three oughta do it.”

“Do you think they’ll give me that long?”

Ace shrugged.

“Is there a catch?”

“Catch is, you’ll owe _me_.  And I don’t do favors for free.”

“OK, so how much are we talking?”

“I want 20%.”

“But that’s… six grand.”

“You’ll only have to pay interest on the money I lend you.  The money you earn yourself is yours to keep.”

“OK… so… what will I be doing, exactly?”

“We’ll get to details later.  You buy the time and then we’ll talk.”

This deal sounded downright dodgy as hell, but I had to run with it.  I wasn’t exactly swimming in options.

“And keep all this to yourself,” he added.  “You harp one word to Chris or anybody else and the deal’s off.  You don’t talk about where we went today, Antonia, Lewis, nothin’.  You got it?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

Ace fired the ignition and the engine rumbled to life.  As we rolled down the driveway, I happened to glance at the neighbor’s house to the right and saw a skinny, red-headed guy peering out from one of the windows.  As soon as he realized he’d been seen, he hid behind the curtain and tried to peer out more discreetly.  He sure seemed interested in our being there.  I wondered who he was and how long he’d been watching.

—

Ace dropped me off at my doorstep - the exact place he’d picked me up from just a few hours earlier.  It amazed me think just how much things had changed since then.  He reached into his back jeans pocket and dug out his wallet.  He flicked it open and then thumbed through his thick chunk of cash and handed me some.

“That’s five hundred.  It might keep you in their good graces until we can get the rest of the cash together.  But I need this half.”

“OK, that’s fair enough.  Thanks.”

“Call them tonight and I’ll come see you in the next couple of days.”

As his ‘49 rowdily backed down the drive, I lifted the plant pot to grab the key that I’d left there in the morning, but it was gone.  I cringed - a missing key could only mean one thing.

I stuffed the money into the back pocket of my jeans to hide it and pushed open the front door to see the kitchen table covered with open textbooks.  Chris was standing at the front window, glaring at me with a questioning frown.

“What’s going on, Cass?”


	9. Matter of Trust

I didn't know what to say. I had to keep it all under wraps like I promised Ace, but I didn't want to lie to Chris either. I slumped down onto the sofa in the living room with my elbows on my knees and prodded my forehead with my thumbs.

"Cass?"

"I've got some… problems I need to sort out and it might take some time.”

"What kind of problems?"

I looked up to see a fraught expression on his face.  "I don't want you to worry, Chris. You need to concentrate on yourself right now. You need to focus on your schoolwork."

"What's he done?"

"None of this is Ace's fault."

"What was he doing here then?"

"He's gonna help me get through this. I hope.  He’s offered me a way out - the only way out. And I have to take it."

"Ace doesn’t do good deeds out of the kindness of his heart."

"Chris, I told you I don't want you to worry.  You've gotta trust that I will sort this out myself."

Chris sighed deeply and sat down on the sofa beside me.

"How's school?" I asked.

"It's OK. I got an A in algebra."

"Wow, way to go!" I said, patting him on the shoulder. "Hearing that just made my day. And I think I'm gonna need perking up a lot over the next few months, so you'd better get back to it," I teased.

"Well, I can't work on an empty stomach," he teased back.

"I'll get us a snack."

Cooking for him, helping him with his homework and chatting about trivial stuff that had nothing to do with anything were all good ways of avoiding making the dreaded phone call. Every time he said he should leave, I'd find another excuse to keep him there. It wasn't until he began to worry about staying out too late that I finally let him go.

I sat by the phone and looked at the clock - it was almost 7 pm. I assumed they'd be getting anxious to hear from me. I ran over what I would say to them in my mind several times but just couldn't make myself pick up the phone. By 8 pm I was so keyed-up about it that I just wanted to get it over with. I picked up the receiver and dialed.

"Carl," said a familiar deep, smoky voice.

"Hello, it's Cassie."

"Cassie. Are you ready for us to make the pickup?"

"No. Sorry. I searched that house from top to bottom. The money… it wasn't there."

"Oh. Well, that is a problem."

"I can get it, though," I said, trying to sound optimistic. "I just need some time."

"How long exactly?"

"Three months - tops."

"Three months? We've been waiting long enough as it is."

"I'm sorry about that. But I really am doing my best right now."

Carl went silent for a moment. "Look, Cassie, I like you - I really do. But, as you know, my brother was killed when Lewis stole those goods, and if that money isn't recovered, then Lewis has won on both accounts. He's gotten away with murder and taken the money with him."

"So, why don't you track Lewis down and make  _him_  pay?"

"Oh, we're hunting him down; don't you worry. There's a five-thousand dollar price on his head. But when I get my hands on him, unless he has thirty grand stuffed down his trousers, let's just say he'll be incapable of repaying it."

Five thousand dollars.  No wonder Ace wanted to find Lewis so badly.

"So, about the extension…"

I heard Carl heave a sigh. "Diego won't like it one bit, but I'm sure I can talk him 'round. You've got three months - have the money by then or I'm gonna have to bring you in and your life won't be pretty."

The phone suddenly went dead.

Making promises that I might not be able to fulfill made me feel sick. I was putting my full trust in Ace for this, and I prayed to the heavens above that he would come through.

-2-

The next five days were hell. I didn't hear a word from Ace - not even a phone call. Nearly a week of my precious three-month timeline was used and I'd managed to save a grand total of $20. I was beginning to wonder if he told me he would help just so he could drop me in it.

But on Friday, not long after I'd got home from work, I heard the low rumble of a V8 which pulled up and parked itself outside my front door. I bolted out there to be met by Ace rising up the steps with two boxes of beer stacked in his arms.

"Miss me?" He pushed his way past and set the boxes down on the breakfast bar.

"Where have you been?"

"Outta town on business."

"They granted me the three months but now a week of it's up," I griped. He headed outside again and I followed him. "Are you listening to me?"

"Gimme a hand with this lot." He leaned over the side of the '49 and hauled up another stack of beer boxes. I peered into the car to see the back seat laden with about 15 dozen beers.

"What's all this for?"

"Can't have a party without piss," he shrugged.

"You've got to be joking…"

"These ones in the bathroom," he said, pushing the boxes at me.

"The bathroom?"

"Just do it."

"You can't have a party here.  Why can't you have it at your place?"

“Because it’s all set to roll, baby.”

I folded my arms in a huff.  “I can’t believe you didn’t even ask me.”

Ace set the boxes down on the step and then reached into the front seat of his car and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniel’s – my favorite brew.  I looked at the bottle then back to Ace then to the bottle again.  It had been months since I’d had a stiff drink and, after the week I’d had, I could sure go for one.  “Is that for me?”

“That depends, now, doesn’t it.”

"God…" I rubbed my forehead with my fingers. "OK, how many people?"

"I only invited a few.”

"A few? With all this?" I gestured at the beer-laden car.

"Word gets around. You gotta be prepared."

"OK fine,” I conceded.  “You can have it here but under strict conditions.  You have to promise me that you'll clean up afterward, repair anything that gets broken, replace anything that gets stolen and have everyone out of the house by midnight."

"Two."

"Midnight."

"Come on, Grandma. No good party ends before two."

"Fine!  Just… keep the music low."

Ace pushed the boxes at me again, and I rolled my eyes as I took them.

"Bathroom," he said.

After helping him haul all the boxes inside, we stocked the fridge and unpacked the rest into the bathtub after he emptied a few bags of ice into it. A second fridge – I thought that was an ingenious idea.

"This is an awful lot of beer," I said as we looked down into the packed ice. I was sure Violet's neat and petite house was about to be trashed by drunken madmen.

"Don't you worry your pretty head about it," he said, roughly ruffling my hair. "I got it all under control."

"You better," I muttered, brushing my hair back out of my eyes. "I don't wanna spend the next week scrubbing puke stains out of the carpet."

"What did I just say? I got it covered. Why are you always such fucking stiff?"

"I am  _not_  a stiff."

"We’ll see about that, won’t we?” He headed out the kitchen and I eagerly followed, knowing just what he meant by it.

The living area of the tiny cottage is open-plan style with only a breakfast bar to separate the kitchen from the living room.  Ace pulled up a stool on the living room side and sat there, bottle in hand, while I dug through the kitchen cupboards.

When I first moved in, I found some expensive-looking French crystal shot glasses that I assumed belonged to Violet's husband before he died.  Usually, I wouldn’t have trusted bringing something like that out before a party, but I didn’t have any others.

“Be careful with these,” I told Ace.  I took two from the box and placed them side by side on the counter-top of the breakfast bar.

“And the rest.”

"Don’t tempt me,” I said, and then I lined up the remaining glasses.

Ace cracked the seal of his bottle and poured them to the rim, and the sweet, intoxicating scent hit my nostrils.

"You gotta do all three, one after the other, no stopping," he said, spinning the cap back on the bottle.

"Easy." It used to be easy. After greedily downing my three, my throat burned for a while and felt rather raw, but I refused to show it. I stood with my eyes closed for a moment, savoring the taste and waiting for that euphoric feeling to hit me.

"Good, huh?" he asked.

A gentle wave flooded through me, leaving me feeling satisfyingly sedate.  For a moment, all my worries faded away.

And then  _he_  showed up.

A loud rumble roared up the driveway and parked itself behind Ace's '49 with a slight squeal of the brakes.

"That'll be Vince," Ace said, picking up the bottle to pour another round.

"Vince! No way. There's no way I'm letting that-"

"Well, looky who it is," Vince said, waltzing through the door with the same cockiness about him that I remembered from the first time we met.  He went to the fridge to grab a beer without the courtesy to ask first and then cracked it open as he pulled up a stool on the kitchen side of the bar. I refused to be that close to him and so moved to the other side to sit next to Ace.

"So, what's your name again?" he asked me with a boisterous ego the size of a planet. "O'Connor right?"

"Cassie. Not  _O'Connor_ , Cassie."

"Right," he said before taking a swig. "So, O'Connor, I'm still waitin' for an official thank you from you."

"That's not gonna change anytime soon."

"If it weren't for me you woulda died out on that highway. You woulda been screwed."

"Maybe I would've been better off dead. Did you ever think of it that way, hotshot?"

"Aw, don't gimme that shit. You owe me big time for what I did for you."

"And you owe me big time for letting you in the door.  So, let's call it even."

At that moment, Eyeball, Billy and Charlie came bustling through the doorway in the middle of some argument about whose job it was to buy the sausages.

"Oh, this should be fun…" I said, throwing back another shot.

"Hey, Ace. Where you been?" Eyeball said, playfully slapping Vince across the back of the scalp.

Vince stood and ripped the two bottles that Billy had brought with him, out of his hands. "What'd you bring me?" It was Wild Irish Rose wine - bottom shelf liquor.

"Get out, Vince. Those are mine!" Billy protested, failing to snatch them back.

"All piss is communal tonight, boys." Vince set both bottles down on the bar in front of him, sliding one to the side and cracking the other open to pour himself a glass.

"Oh yeah? So what'd you bring?" Charlie asked.

"Me of course. And when the ladies get here there'll be plenty to go 'round."

Billy and Charlie looked each other and laughed. "There's only plenty to go 'round 'cos no chick ever wants you," Billy shot back before grabbing a glass of his own to fill.

The two carried on their pointless bickering while two more guys with slicked back, dark hair strolled through the door. Jack Mudgett and Norman Bracowicz, or "Fuzzy" as everyone called him. I'd hate to ask why. Fuzzy waltzed in carrying two large bags of sausages, one over each shoulder like he'd just brought them straight in from a hunt, and Jack held two unopened bottles of 30-year-old scotch.

"Jack, you came through for us," Ace praised him, rising from his stool. The scotch was obviously more important than the food. He put Jack in a friendly headlock to steal one of the bottles from him.

"Yeah. Hocked them outta my granddad's liquor cabinet," Jack laughed coolly. "Threw 'em out the window and into the garden when he had his back turned. The guy's stocked! I shoulda threw out more."

"So, go back and get more," Ace said, just as coolly as he cracked the seal.

Jack's smile faded as Ace grabbed a clean glass from the counter-top and poured himself a nip. I'm sure he was wondering just as much as I was whether Ace was serious about that. If Ace wanted more scotch, Jack would be going back to get more scotch.

"Where's the barbecue?" Fuzzy asked no one in particular.

"Don't have a barbecue." I eyed the stove, wondering how long it would take me to cook them all on there.

"Out the back," Ace said.

"What do you mean, 'out the back'?" I crossed the room to poke my head out the back door. Sure enough, a small, round barbecue sat patiently waiting, already lit with hot embers burning. "When the hell did you…? Never mind." This guy was seriously starting to impress me.

It was around then that people flooded in like the local dam had busted open, and all the dams in the surrounding towns. Once the road was chock-a-block with cars, Billy was given a good supply of beer and put on duty to sit out the front and tell everyone to park in my back field. Some people brought beers or a bottle of something, and Vince stood at the doorway, helpfully taking them and sorting through them all. The ones he liked went into the secret stash he was keeping in one of the cupboards and the rest went to the 'communal' pile.

Eyeball fiddled with the radio in the living room, tuning it into KLAM for some background rock 'n roll. He was assigned barbecue duty, and anyone who stood too close soon fled from the thick cloud of white smoke that arose as he piled on more and more sausages. He didn't seem to care much about whether they were cooked evenly or at all; he just wanted to get the job over and done with so he could start on the drinking games.

I used the bathroom and then had to squeeze through ten feet of crowd to get back to the bar where Ace was still seated.  There must've been sixty people crammed into that small space and even more out on the back porch.  "Damn, how many more?" I asked him.

"Good turnout, huh?" he smirked.

"I can't move in here!"

"Then sit down," he said. "I saved your seat."

"Gee thanks," I said, slumping onto the stool next to him. "I don't know how you expect to control all these people."

Ace glanced at me and then rose from his seat. "Alright, listen up," he shouted across the crowd. The room suddenly fell silent. "Here's the rules… No fighting inside, no locking yourselves in the bathroom to root, bedrooms are off limits, and everybody out by two. If you pass out, you get dragged out into the yard. No puking inside. Anyone breaking the rules will be escorted off the premises by means of my boot up their ass. Now get back to it."

He sat down and stole a cigarette from the packet in front of the guy beside him and lit up. "Will that do?" he asked me, blowing the smoke to the ceiling.

I cracked a grin. "Yeah, that just about covered it."

We heard Eyeball's announcement that the food was ready (it was a lucky dip for a raw or burnt one) and then he pushed his way through the crowd to the radio. He cranked the volume knob right up to max and then shouted over the crowd, "Who wants a shot!"

Guys and girls alike flocked to the bar from all directions. Eyeball shouldered his way through to the kitchen side of the bar and pulled out some shot glasses from a low cupboard, which he'd apparently stored there earlier. He had a large box of about fifteen of them and lined them up along the counter-top. He, Vince and Jack poured from random bottles in the collection, while fifteen hands shot in to claim a prize. Mine was one of them.

"On three!" Eyeball shouted as he raised his glass high. "One, Two, Three!"

Bottoms up.

Shot glasses were slammed down on all sides of the bar, ready for another round to be poured. Another and another and another. Things looked blurrier and slower with each shot. As I turned my head to focus from one person to another, it took two seconds for the double-vision images from my eyes to slowly catch up with my brain.

"Got any cards?" Eyeball yelled across to me.

"Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

"Come on, Grandma, you're spoiling the fun," Ace said.

"Fine, I'll get them." I raised a defiant middle finger at him behind his back, much to Eyeball's amusement, before venturing out on another struggle through the crowd.

Retreating to my room was refreshing; out of the smoke and away from the music that seemed to get louder with each passing minute. I dropped to my knees at the foot of the closet and started rummaging through the boxes of stuff, knowing I'd seen a deck of cards in there somewhere.

After finally finding them, I took a moment to steady myself before going back out into the stuffy room full of strangers. In the short time that I had been gone, the tight gathering of reasonably sober people that I'd left at the bar had become a raging mass of over-excited, alcohol-infused, testosterone-fuelled teenage guys. The stools had been kicked away and Ace, Billy, Charlie, Fuzzy, Jack and what seemed like a hundred other people, stood hooting and cheering at Eyeball and Vince who were going head-to-head in a shot-drinking showdown.

"I'll drink you under the table any day, ya big girl's blouse!" Eyeball drunkenly jeered at Vince before tossing back a shot.

"Oh yeah? I don't think so!" Vince hollered, holding his next shot high. "Last week you went home greener than fucking frog shit!"

I squeezed into the narrow gap between Ace and Billy to watch the two alchies battle it out. One for one they'd match each other, impressing me with the limitless number of insults in their arsenal. But as the challenge wore on, the time between shots drew out. Vince stood up to Eyeball with his posture straight and his expression firm as he nailed each shot. Eyeball would no sooner match it, but after a while, his bottom lip began to quiver under the pressure.

"You're gonna drown you luther," Eyeball slurred as he had another one, tightly clutching the counter-top beside him.

"Look at you, you're legless," Vince said before he threw back one more.

Eyeball suddenly bent double and strapped an arm across his stomach. "Oh fuck…"

Vince's eyes grew wide with excitement. "I think I got him!"

The words 'Eyeball, get outside,' were right on the tip of my tongue, but to my surprise, Ace's stern voice shouted out above the chaos. "Outside Eyeball, or I'll make you lick it up."

"I ain't gonna…" Eyeball started, but his contorted face told us otherwise. The crowd parted like the red sea as he bolted for the front door.

"Haha!" Vince smacked his hands together. "I won, loooser!"

The sound of hurling could be heard just outside.

"See, told you I had it all under control," Ace elbowed me, pushing me into Billy. "Did you get those cards or what?"

"Like anyone here needs them…" I said, tossing them onto the counter-top in front of him.

Ace shuffled and cut the cards before placing the pile down center-table.

"What's the game, Ace?" Charlie said from across the bar.

"FUBAR."

If you've got stacks of alcohol to waste, there's only one game for it – FUBAR. Fucked Up Beyond All Reason. Ace drew the first card which was a five – give five drinks – and handed it to me. "All yours," he said with a smile.

I gave him a sarcastic smirk before lifting my glass and taking a sip.  “You know… I’ve really gotta…”

My final words, ‘get some air’, never made it out.  Stomach acid was ascending up my esophagus at a rapid rate.  I desperately pushed my way through the crowd and then bolted out the back door, ignoring the hoots and jeers of the guys drinking on the back porch.

The scrub that bordered the property seemed like the perfect little hideaway for a good healthy vomit, and so I stuck my head into the thick tangle of bushes. More hoots and jeers. I was just glad to have made it - Ace never would have let me live it down if I broke my own rules.

I staggered across the field, as far away from people as I could go, and found a nice big apple tree to plonk myself under. Sucking clean night air into my lungs was refreshing after being inside the stuffy house for so long. I rested my back against the thick, mossy trunk, noticing how comfortable and soft it felt. As my eyes began to feel heavy, I looked out towards the house. Eyeball was out on the back deck, beer in hand, flirting with three girls who were adoring him in return. I guess he felt better after spilling his guts. I know I sure did.

It felt so good to close my eyes…

-3-

The dull slap of a leather boot lightly kicking my denim covered bum woke me with a jolt. "Get up."

I was still under the apple tree but had slid down the trunk and was lying on the hard, grassy ground. I raised my head slightly to squint up at Ace who was towering above me with his arm extended, offering me a hand up. The music was still loud, and the sounds of voices and laughter could still be heard. I guessed the party was still in full swing.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily, reaching up to take his hand.

"Just past 10."

With one swift yank from him, I was at my feet, feeling giddy and tired. I wanted nothing more than to go to my room, collapse onto the soft bedding and bury myself in it for more sleep.

"We've got a situation," he said.

"Oh shit… What?"

"Inside."

I followed him through the house which seemed a little less crowded and easier to move through than before. We went into my bedroom where Vince and Eyeball were waiting - waiting in my personal space. Luckily, I didn't have any bras lying around.

Eyeball stood smirking at the floor with a beer in his hand, swaying in small circles on the spot, and Vince was leaning against the corner of my dresser with a stern and serious look on his face.

"This is crazy, Ace," Vince said as Ace closed the door.

"What's… going on?" I asked.

"We're out of alcohol," Ace said.

"Last one," Eyeball said, raising his can.

"No… surely not. And you were all drinking so conservatively!"

"Billy was supposed to bring another bootload-" Ace started.

"But the idiot screwed up the deal," Eyeball snickered. "Man, he's useless."

"And you should've told me!" Ace shouted, his voice booming from wall to wall. "You've got the car; it was your job to pick it up!"

Eyeball sunk back into his shell.

"You're  _all_  fucking useless!"

"OK," I said, "so… no alcohol left - party's over. Goodnight." I collapsed face down onto the bed and closed my eyes as I melted into the soft sheets.

"No way," Ace said. "The guy who owns the liquor store made a deal with me. He promised me those boxes and I'm getting 'em."

The seriousness in Ace's voice made me open one eye, and I saw them all staring down at me. "What's this got to do with me?"

"You've done it before; you can do it again."

I rolled over and sat up. "You mean, you want me to… I don’t think so."

"All I need is for you to handle the locks. I could bust in there, but since we have you, I’d rather do it clean.  Because we all know how good you are that."

"What do you mean, 'you all know'? Exactly how far have you been spreading this around, Ace?"

"Don't worry, we ain't gonna tell no one," Eyeball said with a drunken grin.

"Oh, that's so reassuring…"

"The story is, we're going back to my place to pick up a few more boxes," Ace added. "We'll be back within the hour."

Vince and Eyeball both gave a subtle nod, Vince's with noticeable reluctance.

"Vince, move the cars out that are blocking me in. Cassie, grab some dark clothes and meet me at the car in ten."

"Wait on; I haven't agreed to this."

"You're doing it, now move it." Ace gave me such a stern look that I realized I didn't actually have a choice.

Eyeball and Vince left the room, and I grabbed Ace's arm to hold him back. "Ace, if we get caught…"

"I don't get caught. And you never have either. So, just do exactly as I say, and it'll be a piece of cake."


	10. Breaking me in

The first thing I did was go to the bathroom and splash my face with cool water in hope that it would refresh me and clear the lingering blur from my brain.  It didn’t.  I grabbed a black T-shirt and a pair of dark-blue jeans and wrapped them up into an inconspicuous ball so nobody would know what I was carrying out of the house.  I couldn’t believe I was doing this.

Once Vince and Eyeball finished clearing the way for the ‘49, Ace and I headed out.  We drove into town and up Grand street, glancing in at the liquor store as we rolled by.  I had expected him to pull into a side street and park up right away, but his foot stayed firmly planted on the gas all the way through town, and we soon hit the main highway.  He was harshly chewing on a toothpick and his left hand was fidgeting and tapping on the wheel.

“Are you OK?” I asked.

“I’m pissed off.”

“But you didn’t pay for the beer, right?”

“I would’ve.”

“But he doesn’t owe you anything…”

“Oh, he owes me.  He said he’d sell me some piss and he didn’t come through,” he shrugged.  “Every party I’ve had, I never run out of alcohol and it ain’t happening tonight just because of that gutless bastard.”

“OK… so then, what’s the plan?” I asked.

“Like I said, we do it clean.  You handle the locks, we grab a few boxes and then get outta there.  The old codger won’t even know he’s missing some until the next stock-take.”

“Where are we going now then?”

He looked over at me for a moment.  “It doesn’t matter how quick the job is, Cassie, never leave any evidence behind that can link you to the crime.”

We turned off the highway and into his driveway with our headlights lighting up his sad-looking house as we rolled down into the basin.  We parked up and he turned off the engine.  The moonlight was dimmed by a thin blanket of cloud, and I could see well enough, but still managed to trip up on the low front deck as I followed him into the house.

He switched on the light and I saw the interior of his house for the first time.  The wooden floorboards were bare, the kitchen cupboards were unpainted and the dining table was chipped and scarred with cigarette burns.  But, apart from a few dishes in the sink and some grease from the stove-top splattered up the wall, the place looked fairly clean.

We moved into the living room which was in the center of the house.  Three tatty sofas were arranged in a U, with the middle one facing a television and hi-fi system.

Ace picked up a black T-shirt that was lying on one of the sofa arms and sniffed it.  He peeled off his leather jacket and then ripped his white T-shirt off, right over his head.  My jaw dropped open like the full force of gravity had taken hold of it.  He was standing there in just black jeans; his barely sun-kissed body with minimal blond chest hair and worker abs were exposed to my eye’s delight.  He grabbed his black T again and pulled it on.

He said something, but I barely caught it.

“Huh?” I asked, consciously closing my mouth.

“I said, you can change in the bathroom.  Meet me out at the shed.”

“Oh.  Right.”

I found the bathroom down the hall and changed into my dark attire.  On the way out, I saw two doors in the hallway, one wide open and the other open just a crack.  I crept down there with the floorboards creaking under my feet.  OK.  So, I was snooping around - I admit it - but curiosity had got the better of me.  By the light of the bathroom, I peered into the room that had its door wide open and saw that it was empty apart from an unmade bed.  I guessed it was a spare bedroom.  I went to the door that was partially closed and gently pushed it open wide.

An unmade double bed was squished up against the far-right corner of the small room and a set of bedside draws had a clock, lamp and other junk piled on top.  The walls were dotted with pictures of girls pouring over hot rods and muscle cars, there were greasy car parts and clothes all over the floor, and the top of the large dresser at the end of the room was covered with bolts, screws and a pile of car magazines (and the other kind too, I’m sure).  This was a typical car enthusiast boys room.  From what I could tell, Ace was car mad through and through.

I tossed my lighter colored clothes into the front seat of his car and headed out to the garage.  You wouldn’t even know that garage was there unless you were standing on his front porch.  It was surrounded by shrub and had twisting vines and leaves growing wild over it which secretively concealed it from view.

"Out here," Ace called from behind an open hood.

I wandered inside to find luxury appear on either side of me.  A mint, deep purple, '38 Dodge pickup sat to my right and a smooth, black ‘51 Lincoln with whitewalls and rear suicide doors sat to my left.

"Holy shit, are these yours?" I asked, running my hand over the hood of the dodge.

"They're in my garage, aren't they?" he said, wiping at the spot I had touched with a cloth.

“Are we taking one of these?  Why?”

“Everyone in town knows my car.  What if someone sees it parked out the back of the store?”

“Hmm…” I nodded in agreement.  “Gee Ace… I’m beginning to think you’ve done something like this before…”

He dropped the hood and threw me a set of keys and an old pair of gardening gloves. "We'll take the Lincoln.  Back it out and I'll close the doors."  I noticed he was wearing gloves as well, but they were nice black leather ones.  Professional looking…

“You do realize I’ve never backed a car before, right?”

“About time you learned.”  He walked out of the garage, leaving me staring nervously at the huge car.

“Oh boy,” I sighed.

I didn’t understand why the gloves were necessary right now but pulled them on anyway.  I gently opened the driver's door then slid into the white leather interior.  It felt sensational like I was sitting on a soft marshmallow.  I turned the keys in the ignition to be rewarded with the sound of a soft hum which gently vibrated through my body.  With no idea what I was doing, with barely any ability to see where I was going, I simply put the car into reverse, kept the steering wheel straight and gently put my foot down.  I just kept on backing until I was in the yard.

“Turn, turn!” I heard Ace yelling.

And then I felt a little bump, so I immediately took my foot off the accelerator.

I wound down the window and looked behind me to see what happened.

“You hit the fucking house…” Ace said.

“Oops,” I blushed.  “In all fairness, it’s pretty dark…”

He cuffed me over the back of the head.  “Turn on your headlights.”

“Ow… Oh.  Right.”

I eventually found where to turn the headlights on and the garage lit up in front of me.  I put the car into first and, with a few bunny hops, managed to drive it forwards and park it with the nose to the road.

I shuffled over to the passenger's side to wait for Ace who was closing the garage doors behind me.  The back door of the Lincoln soon swung open and a hand trolley was tossed onto the back seat.

"You still got your lucky charms on you?" he asked, before joining me in what felt like a small slice of heaven.

"Always."

He slowly pulled the quiet beast out onto the highway, and my stomach fluttered with a swarm of butterflies that came in an instant and then flew away just as quick.  This was it – there was no more time for nerves, no time for feeling half-drunk, and no time for thinking about how hot Ace looked behind the wheel of that Lincoln.  It was time to forget all of that and focus.

-2-

Our plan was simple: We’d park in the back street behind the drug store which was two doors down from the liquor store.  I'd move first and get the door open and then wait for Ace to come with the hand trolley. One load was all we'd take.

The main street was vacant and sparsely dotted with streetlights which glowed dimly in the warm night.  We drove past the front of the liquor store once again to check that the lights were off inside and the way was clear.  We pulled into a side street and then Ace slowly reversed the quiet beast into the dusty back street, parking in the shadows behind the drug store.  He turned off the ignition and we sat in concealed silence for a second while I psyched myself up.

"Ready?" Ace asked.

"Do I have a choice?”

We crept out of the car leaving the doors ajar.  The dusty back street served about six or so stores, and each end of it linked up with a street off the main road.  An eight-foot-high brick wall ran the length of it and looked impossible to scale.  That meant we only had two exit routes to choose from if we had to make a run for it.

“Go for it, Cass,” Ace whispered.

I made my way over to the back of the liquor store with the gravel crunching conspicuously under my feet.  The brick wall blocked the moonlight and the store buildings blocked all light from the street.  When I got to the store, all I could see was the shape of the door in the darkness; I couldn’t see the lock at all.  I pulled off the gloves and tucked them into one back pocket while pulling my tiny tools out of the other.  Two thin pieces of wire were what I would use – one with a right-angle hook on the end and the other with a flat head, which I used as a tension wrench.

My head buzzed with adrenaline as I ran my hand over the lock for my touch to help my poor vision.  I managed to insert my wires, and started from the back, working my way forward, pushing each pin up and resting them on the ledge above the shear line.  The tools kept slipping in my sweaty hands and I lost it a couple of times and had to start again.

"Why's it taking so long?" Ace whispered, coming in close next to me.

“I don’t know; maybe it’s because I’m just a little out of practice, I’m half pissed and I can’t see!”

“Move faster.”

I felt the final pin lift and rest on the ledge and I grinned as I knew I had it done.  I turned the tension wrench around fully and pushed the door open a crack.  The lock popped out again as soon as I pulled out my wires, meaning the door would relock itself when we were ready to pull it closed.  Bonus.

"Get the trolley," I whispered to Ace, not realizing he'd already disappeared.

I gave the door a soft push, and to my terror, it let out a long, loud, scary whining sound.  I grabbed the door to stop the noise and then just listened for a moment.  I checked around to make sure no neighboring house lights came on, but the houses slept on.

I slipped my gloves back on and carefully walked inside, into the shallow corridor.  There were two doors: The door to my immediate left was locked and the door to the front of the store was wide open.  A faint light from the street came in through that door, making it easier to see than before.

“We need to get into there,” Ace whispered, pointing to the locked door as he stepped inside with the trolley.

I bent down to inspect the lock.  The keyhole underneath was big enough for me to poke my fingertip into.

“Damn, it’s a lever lock,” I whispered.

“Is that good?”

“Not for the owner, it’s not.”  I pulled out my fatter piece of wire and had the door open in a couple of seconds.  “He should really know better.”

“You’re gonna teach me that one day,” Ace said.

“I charge by the hour and my rate ain’t cheap,” I said, giving him a cheeky grin.

“I think you’ll do it for me for free.”  He pushed past me, wheeling the hand trolley which had a quiet, repetitive squeak.

“I was kidding.  And you call _me_ a stiff…”

“Just shut up and load up,” he said.  “And do it fast.”

Box by box, we stacked eight high leaving, what I thought was, an obvious dent in the remaining pile of boxes.

"You really think they won't notice?" I asked.

"Fuck it.  Come on, let's go."

Ace wheeled the beer outside and quickly disappeared from my sight.  I easily locked the door to the cool room and was about to follow him when, for the first time since we arrived, I realized that the largest stockpile of alcohol in Castle Rock was just a few feet behind me.  I tried to turn away from it.  I told myself ‘no’.  But temptation was perched on my shoulder, telling me how quick and easy it would be to have my own bottle to sip on whenever I needed a sedative. Whenever I couldn’t sleep.  It made lots of justifications.  Butterflies were swarming in my belly, and with every second that passed, they seemed to swam in greater numbers.

“Fuck it,” I said, copying Ace’s words.

I darted into the storefront, arriving the in the back corner of the small room.  Rows and rows of liquor bottles were stocked on high shelving units that lined every wall.  There were even two double-sided shelving units down the center strip.  It was the only liquor store in town, and from the look of it, they kept the locals well hydrated.

I reached for the first bottle I saw and turned it towards the windows to catch the moonlight.  “Ugh… what is that?” I wondered.  The name wasn’t at all appealing.  I tried the next bottle and the next but had never heard of any of them.  I thought about how disappointed I would feel if I grabbed something that tasted disgusting and I couldn’t drink it.

Not even a minute had passed from when Ace left me alone, but even that was far too long.  I had to hurry up.  It was then that I thought maybe all the real expensive brews were kept safe behind the counter, and so I dashed behind there and scanned the shelves.

“Yes!” I whispered.  I took a big bottle of JD’s off the shelf and then, in another split-second decision, took another.  At that moment, I wondered why I hadn’t brought a bag.

“Shit, Cassie.  That’s enough,” I scolded myself.  I partly came to my senses and felt panic begin to set in as I thought about how Ace would probably be wondering where I was by now.

But before I could take another step, the sound of a key being inserted into the front door of the store made me instantly drop to the floor.  I ducked down low behind the counter and the bright lights came on, almost blinding me after being in near-darkness for so long.

I ached to scurry through into the corridor, but the gap between it and the counter I was hiding behind meant I would likely be seen and if not, heard.  All I could do was remain low and silent.  I was literally on my knees, begging that they'd quickly get what they came for and leave again.  I strained my ears to listen as a single set of footsteps paced quickly around the store.  They stopped twice, and I heard the clinking of bottles both times.   I guessed the person was thirsty.

The footsteps paused for a few seconds, which seemed like a lifetime to me, and then to my terror they began to stride in my direction.  Small beads of sweat were surfacing and making my shirt stick to my skin.  I held my breath and flattened my back against the counter as best as I could.  The tinker of two bottles tapping together sounded right above me as the person placed them down on the counter.  I couldn't help but glance up to make sure they weren’t leaning over it… and it was then that I got the shock of my life.

I could see him clear as day in a large security mirror which had been fixed high up in the corner of the store.  It was a guy, and he was young.  Too young to own the store, and probably too young to drink… legally.  He was browsing the selection of bottles that were on the shelves above me.  Looked like he had expensive taste too.  If I could see him so well in the mirror, then he would see me too if he happened to look up there.  One movement would be sure to catch his eye.

 _Beeeeep-beeeeep!_   A long, high-pitched car horn came from outside.  I saw the guy grab his two bottles, and then his slightly warped figure shrunk in the mirror as he sprinted for the front door.  The lights switched off to leave me in blackness again and I heard the turn of a key as he relocked the door.

I bolted for the corridor and then tore out the back entrance.  I stuffed one bottle under my arm so I could close the door, and I did so as quietly and yet as quickly as I could.  When I made it back to the car, I realized Ace was nowhere to be seen.  I tucked the bottles down on the floor of the car to hide them and then impatiently paced around the place, half-looking, half-waiting for him.  I was still shaking from the scare and my mind was reeling.  I didn’t know if he’d already been caught, if I should drive off, stay there and wait, ditch everything and run…

A couple of minutes passed before Ace’s broad outline finally emerged from the darkness, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  “Where the hell have you been?” I asked him.

“Me?  What the fuck happened with you?” he whisper-screamed at me.  “How’d you end up in the store?”

“Can we just get out of here?” I smartly got into the car to avoid admitting what I’d done.

Ace got in just as smartly, and we hit the road, heading in the direction of his place.  I kept turning to look behind us, half-expecting to see whirling red sirens hot on our tail.  But the streets were just as quiet and dull as they were before our escapade.

After a little while, as flaming tempers were reduced to a simmer, Ace asked me, “You tried to score a bottle of whiskey, didn’t you?”

“No,” I replied, and then I reached under my seat and pulled out the brew.  “Actually… I got two.”

I dumped them on the bench seat between us, and Ace just looked at me and gave me a grin which turned to laughter.  “Shit, so maybe Grandma isn’t such a stiff after all, huh?”

“Can you stop calling me that?  And anyway… I feel horrible about it.  I can’t believe I even thought of it.  Maybe it’s because I’m still a bit drunk.  I don’t know.  There’s no excuse.”

“Old habits die hard.”

“No way.  There’s a difference between taking things to survive and stealing.  I’ve never _stolen_ anything in my life.  Until now.”

“Don’t beat yourself up.  The old bastard won’t miss it.”

“I don’t know what came over me.”  I sighed and looked down at the bottles laying on the seat.  “I think I should tip them out.”

“What?  No you’re fucking NOT.”

“Well, I can’t drink them.”

“I’ll drink them.  Hell, I earned them.”

“Ah, how exactly did _you_ earn them?  I’m the one who went through hell.”

“And I’m the one who saved your ass from ending up in the cells.”

I looked over at him and gasped.  “That was you with the horn…”

“After I loaded the car and you still weren't back, I went to check on you and saw the lights turn on in the store.  So, I ran around the front and saw the old codger’s son in the there doing his own late night shopping.”

“That was his son?”

“Yeah.  And I figured the only place you could be was behind the counter; you were, right?”

“Yes.  Yes, I was.”

“Well, I had to get him outta there, so I broke into his car and got to his horn.  You were fucking lucky, Cass.  He was real close to going around the counter to grab something, I’m sure of it.”

“Oh my… I’m so sorry,” I said, rubbing my forehead in utter embarrassment.  “And… thanks.”

Ace placed a reassuring hand on my knee.  “Look, you did good.  Sure, you got greedy and you fucked up a little bit, but we got what we came for.  But next time you wanna pull a stunt like that, you tell me first – you got it?”

I would have replied by saying that there would never be a next time, but I was stunned to silence.  His hand felt so good it scared me.

——

After changing my clothes again and after re-swapping the cars, we arrived back at mine at about 11.30.  The place was still active, mainly with the people who'd turned up later.  Eyeball and the rest of the gang were all still there, lazily dozing on the sofas and armchairs in the living room.  Eyeball and Vince both looked relieved to see that we hadn't ended up in a cell for the night while the other four gave us sly grins like they had the completely wrong idea about what we had been up to.

"Billy, Charlie.  Beer," Ace said, flicking his fingers at the door behind him.  The two immediately did what they were told, and Ace took the armchair that Billy had just vacated.  We had brought one box in with us though, and Ace tore it open for the guys who ravaged it like thirsty animals after a harsh summer drought.

I sat in the only free spot which was on the edge of Ace’s armchair and turned down the offer of a can.  Billy and Charlie walked back inside carrying two boxes each and, to my surprise and horror, a familiar face walked in straight after them.  It was the liquor store owner’s son.

My stomach sank like I’d just swallowed ten pounds of lead.  I turned my head away from him in fear that he might recognize me… but then I realized that that was impossible since he never saw me.

I poked Ace in the arm and discretely pointed at the guy as he walked straight through the house, past us all, and out the back door to the porch.  He was carrying a bottle of Old Crow in one hand and a bottle of Wild Turkey in the other.  Thanks to Ace, he never did get to the good stuff.  Ace and I both restrained a laugh as he met up with his buddies outside and started moaning that some asshole had tried to steal his car when he'd been filching the piss from his old man's bottle store.

“If I wanted it, you’d be walkin’ home,” Ace said lowly, provoking curious frowns and cocked eyebrows from the guys.

As Billy and Charlie brought more boxes in, I snuck a few into my room.  I was still fearful that the guy might later connect the big pile in my kitchen with the big hole we'd left in his old man’s store.  I shut myself in there and lay on the bed, seeing nothing else to do except sleep.  But every time I closed my eyes, they sprung back open again.  I didn’t feel drunk or tired anymore; I felt wide awake and alert, and my entire body was tingling, right down to my fingertips.

 


	11. Misjudgments

Dawn was gently lighting the room when I awoke with my head in a sedated haze.  It wasn’t a hangover but a hard week’s worth of exhaustion.  I was lying on one side of my double bed with a sheet over me, and I had slept in my underwear as I always did.  Everything seemed perfectly normal except there was some annoying sound, quiet as a whisper, repeating somewhere near my ears.  I woke a little more to realize that it was the sound of soft breathing.  I opened my eyes and rolled over.

“Jesus!” I jumped up like I’d been poked with an electric cattle prod.

Ace murmured.  He was lying on his stomach, looking too comfortable with both arms and his head stuffed under the pillow.  The sheet was riding around his waist, and I could see he was still wearing his jeans, but his flawless, sun-kissed back was bare and splayed out before me.  My eyes drifted from the small dimples just inside his lower hips, over the muscles on either side of his spine and all the way up to his broad shoulders.  I wanted to run my hands over his smooth skin.

“What the hell are you doing in my bed?” I snatched the pillow he was using and whacked him across the back of the head with it.

“Sleeping.”  He snatched the pillow back off me and buried himself under it again.

“This wasn’t part of the deal.”

“I was too fucked to drive home last night.”

“You could’ve slept in the spare room.”

“It’s taken.”

“By who?” I said, wide-eyed.

He didn’t reply.

“You could have slept on the sofa.”

“It’s taken.”

“The floor then!”

“Taken.”

I rolled my eyes at him and lay back down in a huff.  “What time did you get to bed last night?”

“Around five…”

“Well, don’t think you’re gonna be sleeping here all day.”

“What’s the time?”

I looked over at the clock on my bedside dresser.  “It’s eight.”

Ace yawned as he sat up and then swiped his T-shirt and his jacket off the floor before groggily trudging out the bedroom door.

"Eyeball,” he called, banging hard on the door of the spare room before pushing it open.  “Get your lazy ass outta bed.  Let’s go."

After a few resistant groans, Eyeball stumbled out of the room, pulling his shirt over his head.  “Good night huh?” he mumbled to Ace, looking half-asleep as they wandered down the hallway, out to the living room.  “Always a good night when it ends in a lay.”

_Oh_ _… no… he didn’t think we…  Oh God, no…_

I rolled off the bed and pulled on the nearest clothing to my reach before high-tailing it out to the living room.  I was about to set Eyeball straight, but he and Ace were busy waking up the rest of the guys.  The lot of them were sprawled across the room - the sofa, the armchairs and the floor.  Ace wasn’t kidding about that.

“Billy,” Ace said, flicking his ear with his fingers and startling him awake.  “We’re leaving.  Move it.”

I gazed around, expecting the house to look like a tornado had hit a landfill, but the place was pristine clean.  There wasn’t one alcohol can or bottle to be seen, and later I noticed that even the bathroom was sparkling and misty-fresh.  Even Violet’s expensive shot-glasses were all accounted for and had been put away in their little box.  I couldn’t believe it.

The guys rose to their feet as sorry-looking things, all hunched over with their eyes bloodshot and bleary.

“Does anyone want coffee?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’ll-” Eyeball started, but Ace cut him off.

“We’re getting outta your way,” he said.  “Come on boys.”

As they all filed out the door, I grabbed Ace by the arm to hold him back.

“Hey, when are things gonna start happening?” I asked.  “I don’t have a lot of time, remember?”

“I told you to trust me, right?”

“Yeah…”

“So trust me.”  He gave me a lengthy look, his eyes drifting over me for a moment.  “We’re having drinks at Irby’s tonight.  You should come.”

“No thanks.  After what happened last night, I’m giving up drinking.  I can’t trust myself anymore.”

Ace laughed.  “I’ll believe it when I see it.  Come on, it’s Saturday night.  What else are you gonna do?  Sit around here by yourself watching _Leave it to Beaver_?”

“ _The Untouchables_ , actually…” I muttered.

“I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“Whatever,” I sighed.  When they had all left, I called in sick for work.  I didn’t think I’d have the energy, even to do a half-day Saturday.  I didn’t get to sleep until all hours, and I had given myself a headache from analyzing the night’s events in every detail. I still didn’t know why I stole those bottles.  I never had that kind of nerve.

I crawled back into my warm bed and let my head sink into the pillow.  _“_ Ah… peace,” I sighed.  And then I heard the bathroom door close.

I opened one eye and groaned.  What Eyeball said now made sense.  I grudgingly crawled off the bed again and went out to the kitchen to slump down on a stool at the breakfast bar.  I waited for her to emerge from the bathroom for some time before being woken by a poke in the arm.

"Sorry, is this your house?" she asked in a hasty and excited voice.

I raised my head off the counter-top and blinked my eyes in an attempt to stop seeing a blur.  She was a pretty girl with dark blonde hair that was pulled back into a long ponytail, and she had wide, enthusiastic blue eyes.  She pulled a cardigan over her small shoulders and adjusted her breezy, peach skirt which hung slightly below her knees.

"Sorry I stayed last night.  I hope you don't mind."  She spoke so quickly that one of her sentences would’ve fitted into half the time frame of one of mine.  And it wasn’t just because I was feeling sluggish and slow.

"No, it's fine.  You want some coffee?"

"No thank you.  I’m not allowed to drink coffee and my parents can always tell when I have.  So, if I have one now, they’ll know I snuck out because we don’t have it in our house.  I’m not allowed sugar either.  Do you know how hard that is?  Especially at Easter.  If I get given chocolate, I have to give it all to my brothers.  It’s so unfair.”  She gave me a hopeless smile and sighed.

“Wow, that _is_ unfair…” I said.  Although, I could completely understand why the rabbiting rabbit wasn’t allowed it; she was hopping off the walls even at that early hour in the morning, caffeine and sugar free.

“I’m Carol,” she said.

“Cassie.  So… Carol, is sneaking out a regular thing for you?”

“Lately, yes.  My parents would go ape and ground me for life if they knew I was dating a Chambers!  But he’s such a dreamboat,” she smiled with a far-away look in her eyes.  “And he’s so sweet when we’re alone…”

I thought back to my first meeting with Eyeball when he threatened to break my arm.

“We’ve been dating for two months now and that’s the longest relationship I’ve ever been in,” she continued.  “But I don’t get to see him all that much; only a couple of times a week.  So I was so super excited when I heard Ace was having a party!  It was so so boss!  Your parents must be too cool to let you have one here!”

“Yeah… Ace sure knows how to throw ‘em big…”

“Nobody throws parties as big as Ace’s.  It’s probably because nobody else can get as much alcohol as he can.  Who knows where he gets it from!  When people hear he’s having a party, the news spreads like wildfire and anyone who’s anyone will be there.  At least the fuzz didn’t show up this time.”

“Yeah… that was a bonus.”

“Do you know what Ace did on his 16th birthday?  He stole a police car and took the guys joyriding in it.  Can you believe it?  A police car!  Isn't that wild?"

“Yeah, I’d probably believe that,” I smirked.

She suddenly gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth, her blue eyes widening to the size of saucers.  “Are you and Ace…”

“Huh?” I choked, caught unawares.  “No!  No way.  Not in a million years.”

“Oh.  Sorry.”

“It’s OK.  Hey, um… you didn’t happen to clean up around here last night, did you?”

“Oh, yeah!  Ace said if I did it, he’d invite me to every party he has for an entire month!  I would’ve done it anyway, though.  I usually do.  Somebody has to, don’t they?  I mean, the entire house was a complete mess inside and out!  But it only took me two hours.  That’s not even as long as… oh, sorry… I’m talking too much, aren’t I?  My friends always tell me I do.”

“That’s quite alright,” I said, frowning upon Ace.  “Thank you for doing that for me.”

“It’s OK – I love cleaning!  That’s what us ladies are good at after all.  Anyway, I’d better go.”  She walked out the door, bouncing on her heels with her ponytail happily swaying from side to side.  “My friends and I are going to the park for a picnic later, would you like to come?"

"Um… I would but I’m really tired."

"Perhaps another time then?"

“I… will let you know.”  She seemed nice enough and I was grateful for what she did, but I thought spending an entire afternoon with someone with that amount of energy would drive me crazy.

“OK!  It was nice to meet you Cassie!" she said, waving at me as I closed the door.

"Wow…" I whispered to myself, locking it in relief.

I slogged my exhausted body down to the bedroom, crashed onto my bed and snuggled into the pillows, excited for more sleep.  But as I closed my eyes, all I could think about… was Ace.  I couldn’t get his face out of my mind.  I couldn’t get _him_ out of my mind no matter how much I wanted to.  He was Chris’s nemesis.  He had a girlfriend.  And at times he could be a total obnoxious and arrogant, self-serving bastard.  But that didn’t stop my curiosity.  There was never a dull moment when he was around and I found him… interesting.

—2--

Irby’s was packed out that Saturday night.  The smoke was so thick that a cloud puffed out the front door as Ace and I walked in.  I followed him through the haze to the back of the room where the rest of the boys had already started their night.

Jack and Charlie were on the pool table, and the other four were sitting in the booth with a beer each.  There was a cluster of extra beers center-table, and Ace swiped one up and offered it to me.  I shook my head at it, and he shrugged before cracking the top off.

Vince and Eyeball sat opposite each other, playing drinking games across the table.  Judging by the drunken state of Eyeball, it seemed that he was losing… badly.  The game was simple enough: Vince was flipping a quarter and calling heads or tails.  If he got it right, Eyeball had to drink.  If he got it wrong, Vince was supposed to drink.  But I never saw Vince get it wrong.

“You’re gonna luth this time,” Eyeball slurred as he took an unsteady swig.

Vince flipped and covered the quarter on his hand.  “Tails!” he called.

Bursts of laughter rang out among the other guys as Vince revealed the correct call once again; tails it was - Eyeball had to drink.  I watched carefully as Vince flipped again and continued on his winning streak, steadily slaughtering Eyeball into a state of disrepair.  But I knew his secret.  You can feel the underside of the coin with your thumb before placing it on your hand.  If the underside is smooth, tails is on top.  If it’s rough, it’ll be heads.

“Fuck you, man!” Eyeball’s eyebrows sagged.  “Why don’t I ever get to flip?”

“Here then loser,” Vince said, throwing the quarter at him.

Eyeball was so drunk by that time that after he tossed the coin he was too uncoordinated to catch it again.  It dropped between his legs, fell under the table and rolled across the floor.

“That’s a vessel!” Vince blared, abruptly standing and pointing down at Eyeball.  “Come on, you pussy!  Suck back that whole bottle!”

“Get fucked ya cock-knocker!” Eyeball huffed, raising his middle finger at Vince.  He may have appeared to be irritated about losing, but he still avidly downed his drink, looking like he enjoyed every mouthful of it.

I gave Ace an agonizing look, wishing I’d stayed home.

“OK,” he said, turning to Charlie and Jack.  “Game’s over boys.  Rack ‘em up.”

Charlie’s cue was ripped out of his hands and given to me.

“Said I’d teach you, remember?” Ace said.

“Yes… yes, you did.”  He had offered to teach me because I had lied to him by saying that I didn’t know how.  The truth was, I was rusty and didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of them all.  I felt slightly regretful about lying to him now, and I was about to confess but I was interrupted by Vince rudely bumping my shoulder as he walked by.

“Teaching the chick to play, Ace?” he said, flashing me a haughty smile before disappearing into the men’s room.

I scowled and chalked up my cue.

“We play standard eight-ball and we _always_ play for money,” Ace said, peering down the length of his cue, inspecting it for flaws.  “But since you’re new at this, we’re gonna play a non-official practice round.  You wanna break?”

“You do it this time.”  I swear I wanted to tell him, but I couldn’t pass up such a brilliant opportunity to strike back at Vince and chalk one up on my side of the board.

“Watch and learn.”  Ace strolled to the end of the table and leaned down low over his cue.  He drew it back and then thrust forward with force, breaking the balls and pocketing two solids.  He then ambled around the table, sinking one ball after the other without a miss.  He was on form that night and I felt both nervous and excited about playing him for real.

“You’re up,” he said.

I held my pool cue over the table and it felt foreign in my hands; it was like riding a bike when you haven’t ridden one in a long time.  You never forget how, but it takes some time to get used to the feel of it again.

“You need to make a solid bridge,” Ace said, positioning the shaft in my left hand.  He then lowered the butt of the cue to my hip and kicked at my ankles to make me widen my stance.  “See if you can pocket that nine.”

I weakly took the shot and hit the side of the nine, making it veer off to the left.

Ace winced as he rubbed his forehead with his fingers.

“Gee, O’Connor, I could’ve made that shot with my eyes closed,” I heard Vince say behind me.

“Vince, fuck off,” Ace said.

Vince’s grin faded and he went back to the booth.  I couldn’t help smiling at how perfectly timed that was.

Ace went to the other side of the table and lined up the cue ball and the nine again to replicate the last shot.  “Try again,” he said.

“It just… feels weird,” I sighed, glancing at Vince who was looking at me over his shoulder.  He snickered before turning his attention back to the other guys.

Ace gave me a lengthy look and then wandered over to my side of the table again.  He repositioned the cue in my hands and firmly pressed his chest against my back to lower me down.  “A solid bridge - hold it firm enough to have control, but not too tight,” he said.

I could see nothing but a blur of balls while he held me there, nestled underneath him.  I couldn’t focus; I couldn’t concentrate.  I was far too distracted by his solid arms that were holding my cue straight and his warm breath kissing my ear.

“Does it feel weird now?” he asked.

“Yes…” I squeaked.

“Just let the shaft glide through your fingers.”

 _Oh_ _my God_ _… Get a grip!_ I told myself.

I shook my head to regain my focus and took the shot, smoothly and easily pocketing the nine.

“Nicely done,” he said, gently patting my hip as he stood and relieving my back of his weight.

“Maybe you should let me get some more practice in,” I said.  “I think I’m getting the hang of this.”

Ace went off to harass Billy into topping up their stockpile of beer, leaving me alone at the table.  As I worked on my shots, it began to feel slicker in my hands.  I’d look up at Ace every now and then and he’d be frowning suspiciously at me as he swigged his beer.  Although I wasn’t sinking a lot of balls, I must have looked more comfortable with the cue than a typical beginner.  Good thing Vince wasn’t paying as much attention.

“Alright O’Connor,” Vince finally said.  “That’s enough pissing around.  We wanna play.”

“Knock yourself out,” I said, handing him my cue.  It was time to see what I’d be up against.

Vince and Billy took to the table and I slid into the booth next to Ace.  I kept one ear on the conversation and two eyes on the game as I took vital notes on Vince's style of play.  He was good, but he was cocky too which was what I expected.  If there was a choice of going for an easy or a difficult shot, he’d pick the difficult shot every time.  The guy could not play it safe to save himself.  I was impressed to see him pull off some of the more difficult shots, but he seemed to fluke it most of the time.  And he still won two games against Billy, for which he came out ten dollars richer.

“So, who’s next in line to lose?” Vince asked, racking up the balls for a new game.

“I’ll play you,” I said, rising from the booth.

“What?  Geez, I want some kinda challenge.”

I took the $20 note out of my jeans pocket – my only savings - and held it up between two fingers.  “Rack ‘em up.”  I slapped it down on the corner of the table and Vince cocked one eyebrow like he thought I must be crazy.

Ace just stared at me with a heavy frown.

“Too rich for you?” I said to Vince and he scoffed.

“If you’re throwing money away tonight, why not give everyone some?  Twenty, plus the loser buys the nights drinks… for everyone.”

“Wow - how thoughtful of you.”  I’d been hoping to negotiate the stakes to a decent height to make it worth my while, but egotistical Vince went right ahead and raised them high all by himself.  I held out my hand and he shook it, looking like he couldn’t believe his good fortune.  “By the way, I don’t drink beer - just whiskey.”

“You can buy yourself whatever you want.”  He pushed past me, bumping my shoulder hard as he went to the top of the table.  He positioned his cue stick to break but I grabbed the end of it.

“Hang on,” I said.  “Where’s your money?”

“What for?  You may as well hand yours over to me now.”

“Fair’s fair,” Ace said, rising from the booth and stepping in.  “Let’s see it.”

“Fine,” Vince said.  He dug the two fivers he’d just won off Billy out of his pocket, plus another ten, and handed it all over to Ace.

“That’s more like it,” I said, eying him down.  “Besides, it’s my break.  And I’m gonna clean the table.”

“What are you on, girl?  You’re delirious or something,” Vince laughed.

I subtly stole his cue from him - the one I had used for practice.  My break shot was hard and the balls scattered in all directions with two solids sinking into the side pockets on opposite sides of the table.

“Nice break,” Ace said with suspicious eyes.

I glanced at Vince to see that the cocky look on his face had caved into one of unease.  Even if I were to lose, that look would have been worth every cent of my money.  I continued on, slowly pacing around the table and popping off shots here and there, sinking every single one of them.  I tried to avoid the difficult shots because my form still didn't feel perfect, but I wasn't doing too badly considering how long it had been since I last played.

Ace pulled a stool over from the bar and rubbed his chin, grinning slightly as he watched me progress.  The other guys soon gathered around too, rowdily cheering on the game like it was the most exciting thing they’d seen in weeks.

Just when I was getting a little cocky myself, I accidentally shot myself into a corner, trapping the cue ball behind one of Vince’s balls.  The only way I could save myself was to swerve the white around Vince’s ball to pocket my three on the other side of the table.

“Haha, I got her!” Vince said, punching his fist into his palm.

I scratched my head as I looked for another way.  If I turned the table over to Vince now, chances were, I’d never get it back.

“How are your swerve shots?” Ace asked.  “I’m gonna guess you know damn well what that is.”

I gave him a guilty glance followed by a nervous laugh.  I had pulled off those types of shots in the past when I was on form, but in my rusty state, I wasn’t confident at all.

I aimed down on the ball, blanking out Vince’s smart-ass jeers which were flying at me thick and fast.  Hoots and hollers came from the rest of the guys as I gently played the shot.  The cue ball swerved around Vince’s ball nicely and was on the path to the three.   Everyone anxiously watched on tip-toes as the three was knocked on, rolled towards the pocket… and then stopped.

“Dammit…”  I just hadn’t given it enough power.

Sympathetic comments and slaps on my back came from the guys.

“Clean the table huh?” Vince smirked as he strutted over for his first shot of the game.  “Why don’t you head over to the bar and buy us all a round?  I’m gettin’ kinda thirsty.”

“Just play, Vince,” I muttered.  “You haven’t won yet.”

Ace grabbed me by the arm and pulled me backward, and I found myself sitting next to him on a second stool he’d taken from the bar.  “You’re a good fucking bullshitter,” he said.

I blushed.  “I was gonna tell you, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to wipe that shit-eating grin off Vince’s face.”

“You challenge Vince to anything and he’ll take you up on it, or fall for it - whichever way you wanna look at it.  You could’ve thrown your money down on the table right at the start and he would’ve jumped at the chance to beat you.”

“Yeah… I’m slowly getting that fact.  And anyway, if I’d been upfront, I wouldn’t have gotten a lesson from a pool shark.”

“Yeah, you enjoyed that, didn’t you?” He gave me the sideways eye as he took a swig from his beer.

I shrugged and smiled and then turned my attention back the game.  Vince had made some good progress with pocketing four of his stripes, and I saw a similar shot to the one I’d failed on open up in front of him.  He wasn’t wedged into a corner and he had other options, but as Ace said, he’d rise to any challenge.

“Hey, Vince, look at your ten,” I hinted.

“You lookin’ for a little lesson?” he said smarmily.

“I'd love one please.”

“She’s tryin’ to play ya, Vince,” Ace smirked.  I felt his arm snake around my waist and I froze, not knowing what to make of it.

Advice poured in from the other guys, telling Vince to let it go, but every bit of it was ignored.

“Lemme show you how it’s done,” Vince said, aiming down on the cue ball.

As his face sunk into serious concentration mode, my heart raced and my sweaty fingers gripped tighter around my cue.  He was so determined to sink this one that I worried he might actually pull it off.  Everyone rose to their tip-toes again as Vince took the swerve shot.  The white curved around my ball and hit the ten.  We all held our breaths as the ten rolled towards the corner pocket… and then slightly scratched the rail and veered away.

“Shit man! Shit!” Vince roared, thumping his fist so hard on the table that I was amazed that our remaining balls didn’t roll.

“You’re gonna lose to a chick!” Eyeball laughed, earning himself a slap across the skull from Vince.

My final three solids were easy now that most of Vince’s balls had been cleared, and I finished the game by rolling the black eight past Vince’s failed ten into the corner pocket.  I didn’t rub it in, though.  In fact, I didn’t say a word to Vince.  I just strolled over to Ace who handed me my money with a commending grin and a pat on the rear.

“Drinks are on Vince boys,” I said, slipping the money into my jeans pocket as I strolled by him, making sure to rudely brush past.  “And boy, am I thirsty.”

Giving up drinking – it was never gonna happen.  And anyway, I had to fully cash in on my winnings.  We all cashed in.  We drank until Vince was broke.  I only have vague memories of the rest of the night; some of earning a few dollars more from playing other people in the bar and then losing every cent of it to Ace when I played him.  At 2 am, closing time, I staggered out of Irby’s, bent double and clinging to Ace with my arms wrapped around his waist.  He helped me get into his ’49 and I slumped sideways as a lifeless heap across the front seat.

“You’re too pissed to drive,” I slurred.

“I’m fine,” he said, opening the driver’s door.  “You’re the one who was puking in the shithouse.”

“Shut up you,” I yawned.

He lifted my head off the driver’s seat so he could get behind the wheel and then he dropped it on his lap.  I stretched out with a smile, happy to have a comfortable, warm pillow.

The sound of the V8 filled my ears and vibrated throughout my numb and intoxicated body.  I indulged in the deep, husky and yet velvety-soft drone as we traveled through the streets.

**\--3—**

When I woke, I found that Ace’s lap had been replaced by my pillow.  I was lying in my bed, still fully dressed, and I had the major drys.   I slogged myself out of bed, feeling drunk and deathly tired.  When I came back from freshening myself up a little, I saw Ace lying on the other side of my bed.

“I’m gonna have to start charging you rent,” I said, collapsing onto the sheets.

“And I’m gonna have to start charging you chaperon fees and gas money,” he mumbled from under his pillow.

I smirked with a laugh.  “I was so gone last night, I don’t even remember getting out of the car.”

“Then you won’t remember me banging your head on the door frame as I was carrying your drunken ass inside either.”

“You did what?” I laughed, feeling my head for a bruise.  “Anyway… thanks for looking after me… sort of.  I haven’t had a night like that in a long time.”

He emerged from underneath the pillow and lay on top of it instead, hugging it underneath him.  “You sound like you enjoyed yourself.”

“I did.  Actually… to be honest, I’ve never had a night like that.  I mean, I partied and stuff back in Portland but, I could never really let my hair down.  I’ve never been _that_ drunk before.”

“Why?”

“Because James was always there, watching out for me.”  Flashbacks of James always taking the glass out of my hand went by and I shook the memories away.  “Shit,” I whispered.  “I don’t know why I keep bringing him up.”

“He’s that old boyfriend, right?”

“He wasn’t… it wasn’t like that.”

“Well, did you fuck him?”

“Ace!” I said, shoving him in the arm.

“Well, did you or didn’t you?”

“That’s… _way_ too personal.  I don’t even know why I’m laying here talking to you about any of this when I should be kicking you out.  What the hell are you still doing here, anyway?  Get out of my bed!”

“So you did.”

“GET OUT.”

A small knock at the front door grabbed our attention.  We heard a slow whining sound as it opened, followed by a familiar voice.  “Cass, are you here?”

“Holy shit!”  I sprung up, off the bed.

“Is that Chris?” Ace laughed, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

“Come on, get up!  You’ve gotta get outta here!” I whispered.

“He’s already seen the car, stupid.  Your secret’s out.”

“Shit!”

“Will you quit with the hysterics?” He sat up and swiped his T-shirt off the floor, then trudged around the bed with the intention of walking out the bedroom door but I blocked his way.

“You can’t go out there,” I said, getting hedged in chest flesh as he tried to push his way past.  “Go… out the window.”

“I’m not goin’ out the window.”

“Then, at least put your T-shirt on!”

Ace grinned.  “Come on, Cass.  You and me both know you prefer it off.”

I blushed and he moved me aside before heading through the door.

“Oh my…” I ran my shaking fingers through my hair and took a breath before following him out.

“Hey Chambers, how’s it goin’?” Ace smiled, finally pulling his T-shirt over his head.

Chris was standing in the kitchen with his brow low and eyes wide as he looked to me for answers.

“Um… well… um…” was all I could give him.

Ace laughed and then bent to kiss me behind the ear.  “I’ll see you tonight,” he said with a devilish smile.  He cuffed Chris over the back of the head before strutting out the door and leaving.

“What the hell are you doing, Cass?”

My cheeks heated up with guilty blood.  I’m sure that five minutes earlier I would’ve been secretly reveling at feeling Ace’s soft lips on my neck, but nobody grounds me like Chris does.  It was like he’d reached up, grabbed my ankles that were dangling from the clouds and yanked me back down to earth.  I landed so hard I felt like road kill.

Chris turned to walk out on me and I was really struggling to find an explanation - or an excuse, more like.

“He’s not all bad,” I blurted out.  I instantly regretted saying it, but I couldn’t take back what I believed.

Chris turned around to glare at me with a look on his face like he didn’t know me anymore.  His eyes narrowed so intensely it scared me.  “You say that because you don’t know that son-of-a-bitch like I do.  Well, maybe I should tell you, huh?  Maybe I should tell you about the time when Ace Norman Bracowicz ganged up on Gordie and snapped two of his fingers like toothpicks.  Maybe I should tell you about the time Ace held a switchblade to my throat and almost used it.”

“He did what?”

“Yeah.  He was gonna slit my throat.  He was gonna murder a twelve-year-old kid.”

My mouth gaped open in pure revulsion and I noticed that I was trembling.  “My God, Chris… I’m so sorry.”

Chris gave me one last hurtful look and shook his head before turning away and walking out the door.

 


	12. The Whole Package

“What’s got your goat?  You’ve been suckin’ sour grapes ever since I picked you up.”  Ace grabbed a beer from his fridge and then leaned back against his kitchen bench to glare at me.  “Are you pissed about this morning?  Because that little dipshit-”

“How could you nearly kill a twelve-year-old kid?” I looked him in the eyes for the first time that night, and I looked daggers.

“Did he tell you that?”

“He said you held a blade to his throat and almost used it.”

Ace’s eyes narrowed like a storm was brewing way down deep.  “You hear his side of the story, and right away I’m the bad guy because little Chrissy can do no wrong.  Well, fuck you, Cassie.”

I was taken aback with the realization that I hadn’t actually considered hearing Ace’s side.  “OK, I’m listening.”

“That little fuck provoked me.”

“Oh, come on,” I scoffed at him.  “What could he have possibly done?  Call you an ‘asshole’ or something?”

“Worse than that.  He knew all the right buttons to push to wind me up and make me do it.”

“This is bullshit.  You’re making it sound like he wanted you to kill him!”

“He did.”  Ace’s stare was so deadly serious that it was hard to believe he was telling anything but the truth.  “You ask anyone who was there - even that Lachance kid.  Chris had options.  He coulda left.  He coulda run.  But he didn’t.  Maybe he didn’t want it before all the shit went down, and maybe he was relieved to be alive afterward.  But, I’m telling you, in that moment, he was ready to leave his scummy, shithole of a life behind, and he wanted to take me down with him.”

It was hurtful to hear Chris’s life being talked about like that.  He’d told me about how unhappy he was at home, and now I wondered if things were ever so dire that he might have had a death wish.

“Chris knows not to fuck with me like that, Cass.  But he did it anyway.”

I wiped at a couple of stray teardrops with the sleeve of my jacket.  “Whatever he did doesn’t justify you-”

“I didn’t kill him, so stop looking at me like I’m a murderer.”

That didn’t make any of this OK - at all - but I did feel a little relieved to hear him say that.  Chris was alive and well.  Ace didn’t kill him.  Thank God.

“And besides,” Ace continued, “I don’t see the difference between me pulling a knife on Chris and Lachance pulling a gun on me.”

“What?” I said, stunned.  The imagery blew my mind.

“Lachance was about as close to pulling that trigger as I was to taking Chris out.  But I guess none of that matters since they’re the good guys in all of this.”

“What is it between you two?  Why do you hate Chris so much?”

Ace leaned in close to look me straight in the eyes.  “He brings it on himself.  He mouths off.  He gets under my feet.  He yaps to people about shit they shouldn’t know.  You think I’m too hard on him?  Maybe I’m not hard enough.  ‘Cause if I was, maybe he wouldn’t keep pulling this shit.”

“Chris isn’t afraid of you, no matter what you do to him.”

“Well, he should be.  ‘Cause next time he gets me in a rage like that, it might just cost him.”

“What on earth were you lot doing to cause all of this… mayhem?”

Ace stared at me for a moment.  “We gotta get down to business.  Now, are you still on board or are you gonna jump and handle all this shit on your own?”

I rubbed my eyes with my palms and took a deep, calming breath as I tried to regain focus - although, my head felt like it had just been blitzed in a milkshake maker.

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Good, because you’re being expected.”

Ace disappeared down to his room for a moment and returned with a neatly wrapped paper package.  He tossed it to me, and I caught it.  It was about six-inches long and snuggly fitted into the palms of my hands like a fat, rectangular shaped sausage. I turned it over but couldn’t find any markings or clues about what could be inside.

“What is this?”

“It's a quarter kilo – half-pound – of high-quality cocaine.”

“Ah… come again?”

“It’s cocaine.  Coke.  Nose Candy.  Blow.  It’s serious business and serious money.  And delivering it is your new job.”

I swallowed dryly.  I wanted to throw the thing back to him like a hot potato.  I had always assumed that his plans would be dodgy - I would have been stupid not to - but I never thought he would be into something so extreme.

He picked up a pen and scrawled something on a piece of paper which he handed it to me.  It was an address.

“Memorize it then throw it away,” he said.  “Make sure you don’t have it on you when you’re walking out there.”

“Walking?”

“You don’t wanna be seen going in or leaving.  That means no cars, and you’re only to do it after midnight.  Deliver it, bring back the two-and-a-half grand, and I’ll give you a cut.  I’ll save you a piece of my cut too so you can pay off your debt faster, but don’t forget, I want it back with interest.”

I nodded as I rolled the package over in my hands.  I was nervous and yet mesmerized by having something so illegal, forbidden and expensive in my possession.

“If you have to call it off for any reason, like if you think you’re being followed, then just go home.  ‘Cause if you get caught delivering that shit, then we could all get done for distribution and supply, and we don’t want that, do we?”

“No.  We definitely don’t want that.”

“Now, I want you in and then outta there – don’t hang around, no fucking chit-chat.  You got it?”

“Yeah… I’m going to a drug-dealer’s house.  I’m hardly going to stay and try to make friends.”

Ace eyed me skeptically.  “Let’s go.”

-2-

Vince’s place was just a few streets down from the address that Ace had given me.  Ace needed to see Vince anyway for some reason, and so I began my lone walk from there in the dark.

 _Walk there, walk back, that_ _’s all there is to it._ I did my best to focus on that simple thought and forget about the illegal substance that was bulging in my jacket pocket.

It didn’t take long to reach the edge of the semi-rural side of town where my destination was supposed to be.  I noticed that the properties there had larger land areas than those closer to town, and so there were huge gaps between the houses.  Street lights were only at every corner and huge dugout drains striped the sides of the roads instead of sidewalks.

Following Ace’s vague directions, I eventually found the right street and then the number on the letterbox.  The house was dead silent, and I couldn’t see any lights on inside.  I hoped it was because they were being discrete and not because I had the wrong place.

Ace had instructed me to deliver at the back door and, so I tread cautiously down the driveway.  Thick, bushy pine trees bordered the backyard and were so tall they blocked out the moonlight.  I suspected they would be useful in keeping the back entrance hidden from the neighbors.

I felt my way up the back steps and then took a deep breath for confidence before softly knocking on the door.

The sound of a key turning made my heart thump so hard I could literally hear it.  The door opened a crack, but I couldn’t see a face.

“Who are you?” asked a slightly husky voice.

“Ace sent me.”  I was doing my best to keep my nerves from showing.

The door opened a crack wider, and I could just make out the guy’s short, dark hair and stubbly face in the dim light glowing behind him.  “Where’s Eyeball?”

“I… have no idea…”

“No-one said nothin’ to me about someone else coming.”

“But, Ace told me you’re expecting me.”

I heard a sharp exhale, and the guy took a step sideways, pulling the door open a fraction more.  “Come in.”

I shuffled past him, relieved that he didn’t send me away or my nervous trek would have been for nothing.

The guy gave the door a cool flick to swing it closed.  He just stood there for a second as he scanned me from head to toe.  His round shoulders and bulgy biceps were heavily tattooed from the elbows up, and a simple white singlet showed off his broad, well-built chest.  But, what mesmerized me was his eyes.  They were strikingly similar to Chris’s big blues, and I soon saw the resemblance to both Chris and Eyeball.  Ace once mentioned that they had an older cousin, and I wondered if this was him.  Any which way, this guy was above average eye-candy as far as I was concerned.

“You got something for me?” he asked.

“Um… yes.  Yes, I do.  Um…”  I was suddenly all thumbs and fumbled with the zipper of my jacket.  I got it stuck and could feel my cheeks turning tomato red as I struggled to loosen it.  One final downward yank freed it, and I pulled the package out and tossed it to him.

“Thanks,” he smiled with his blue Chris-eyes still scanning me.  “Come in and I’ll get you the money.”

I followed him into his living room and gazed around at his personal, little lair.  “This is like… wow,” I said.  With a giant stag head hanging above the open fireplace and a bear-hide rug sprawled across the wooden floorboards, the place had the rustic feel of a log cabin, but it was also comfortable and homely.  I noticed the thickness of the drapes covering the windows which explained why I couldn’t see any light from outside.

“Take a seat,” he said, gesturing to one plush, suede-like sofa while taking the other for himself.  The two sofas faced each other, and there was a beautiful, solid, wooden coffee table between them.  Despite what Ace said about not staying, I sat down.

The guy tucked the package away, down between the cushion and the sofa arm, and pulled out a wad of cash.  He tossed the fat roll to me and I caught it.

Two-and-a-half grand.  I’d never seen so much money in all my life, and holding it made me feel slightly giddy.  I tucked it safely away inside my jacket.

He picked up a half-full bottle of whiskey from his coffee table and poured himself a nip.  "You want one?”

“Sure… why not?  Thanks.”

“You OK drinking it straight?”

“Fine.”  In my opinion, that was the only way to drink it.  He poured me a double-shot in a glass and I sipped on it eagerly, hoping it would help calm the flurry of nerves that were going on.

“So, what’s your name?” he asked before tossing back his drink.

“Cassie or Cass.”

“Is that short for Cassidy? Or…”

“Cassandra.”

“Cassandra, hey? That’s a really pretty name.”

“Thanks, but I prefer Cass.  Cassandra sounds way too… not me.”

“I think it suits you perfectly.”  He gave me an irresistible grin that exhibited a perfect set of pearly whites.

_Gorgeous and charming.  Shit._

“Well, I’m Keith.  Assuming you didn’t know that already.”

“All Ace told me was that you were expecting me… or, at least, supposed to be.”

“I wouldn’t blame him,” he said, relaxing back on his sofa.  “Eyeball was probably meant to let me know, and he ain’t always… reliable.”

“Oh, I see.”

“So, are you and Ace…”  I saw his eyes do a downward flick, and I went all aflutter.

“No…”

“What’s your deal then?  Why are you doin’ this?”

“Just to… make a little extra money.”

He absentmindedly scratched his inner-thigh, making his bicep flex.  An enormous amount of willpower was required not to let my gaze drop further down, anywhere near that upper-leg area.

“I’m gonna be frank with you,” he said.  “Not even most of Ace’s boys know about this shit, and yet, here you are.  So, you wanna tell me what’s really goin’ on?”

I added ‘smart’ to the rapidly growing list of notable details.

“Not really, no.”

He nodded with a smirk.  “Cute and secretive.  You gotta watch those ones.”

I blushed again, and his eyes wandered over me with undisguised interest.  I wondered how old he’d be.  _Maybe 22, 23_ _… Definitely within my age range_.

“You seem to think you can pry into my life, so let’s hear about yours.”

“What you wanna know?”

“You’re Chris’s cousin, aren’t you?”

“You know Chris?”

“Yeah, he’s a good kid.”

Keith paused for a moment.  “Hey… you’re the chick that helped him stick it to the teachers at his school.”

“You heard about that, huh?”

“That was a gutsy thing you did for him, and damn, it makes me wonder why I never did it myself.”

“You and Chris get on, then?”

“Most of the time,” he shrugged.

“So, are you a…”

“Chambers?  Yeah.  And proud of it.  Hey, I know the shit that goes around town about us, but I’m gonna change all of that.  Pretty soon, I’m gonna have the Chambers name up in lights, baby.”

“Oh, how’s that?” I asked with increasing interest.

“I’m a musician. That’s my gat over there; my pride and joy.”

I looked over my shoulder to see a pristine and polished guitar perched on a stand next to an amplifier.

“It’s a Gibson Les Paul,” he said, “and it’s got the new humbucker pickups instead of the regular P-90s.  Traveled all the way to Los Angeles to buy that thing.”

“Wow, it’s nice!  Looks… expensive.”

“Never would’ve been able to afford it if it weren’t for this shit.” He thumbed towards the stash in the side of the sofa. “I know it’s not good to be dealing it, but sometimes you’ve gotta take a chance in life if you wanna get somewhere.”

“Everyone has their reasons.  I won’t hold it against you,” I joked.

Keith laughed.  “Yeah, you know where I’m comin’ from.”

“So, you’re good then, huh?” I said, nodding at his guitar.

“Baby, you ain’t seen nothin’ like me.  Me and the boys have got a sound goin’ that no-one’s even heard before.  Everywhere we gig, people rave about us, and it’s only a matter of time ‘til some bigwig picks us up for a record deal and then we’ll be flying.  Can’t fuckin’ wait.”

“You’ll have to show me sometime.”

“Yeah baby, for sure,” he grinned.  “Maybe… I’ll even serenade ya.”  He gave me a playful wink.  “I gotta good voice too.”

“Oh yeah?  Let’s hear it then.”

 _“My love must be a kind of blind love.  I can't see anyone but you._ ”  He sang in perfect tune with the slight husk in his voice melting every word.

“I love that song!  And wow, you _are_ good.”

“Music’s my life.”  He poured himself another nip and downed it before relaxing back on his sofa again.  “So, you wanna go out sometime?”

I admit, he caught me off guard.  “Um… sure.  I mean… um… yes… sure.”  Just when I was starting to feel comfortable around him, he had me blundering again.

“What you doin’ tomorrow night?”

I hesitated for a moment.  I wasn’t even supposed to be talking to this guy letting alone going out with him.  I didn’t know what trouble I’d get myself into if Ace found out that I had directly disobeyed his order.  But… if he didn’t find out… “Umm… nothing, as far as I know.”

“You like pizza?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“I got this friend in Chamberlain; his family owns the best pizza house in town.”

“Yum, can’t wait,” I grinned.

“I’ll pick you up at seven.”

I scribbled my address on a notepad that was on the coffee table and didn’t forget to finish my drink before heading to the door.

“Wait on; let me get that.”  He pulled it open just a crack and leaned on its edge as I passed close by him.

“See you tomorrow night,” I said.

“Lookin’ forward to it.”

I stepped outside and smiled as I patted the wad of money in my jacket, feeling it safely tucked away inside.  I was looking forward to finding out what my cut was – out of two-and-a-half grand, I was expecting to get a sizable chunk.

After a less paranoid return walk to Vince’s, I arrived to find that Ace wasn’t at his truck.  I figured he wouldn’t be inside the house since all the lights were off, and so I climbed into the cab and waited… and waited.  I lay down across the bench seat and closed my eyes, soon sinking into an indulgent dream where Keith was the star of the show.

——

The slap of a firm hand whacking my jean covered backside woke me with a start.  I groaned at the deep throbbing sensation left by the sharp sting and tiredly sent my hand there to rub it.

“How’d it go?” Ace asked from the driver’s seat, next to where I lay.

I wearily pushed myself up to sit and saw Vince’s house in the faint light of early morning.

“Fine.”  I drew the zip down on my jacket and grabbed the wad of bills to hand to him.  “What took you so long?”

“Got caught up.”  He thumbed through the money, counted out a few bills and handed them to me.

“This is two hundred and sixty bucks…”  It wasn’t quite the sizable chunk I’d been expecting.

“The amount you get depends on how much Keith orders.  He usually gets a quarter kilo twice a week.”

“So, I’ll get roughly five hundred bucks a week?  Ace… that’s amazing, but for twelve weeks that’s only six grand.  And I’m betting you’re not gonna lend me twenty-five thousand dollars.”

Ace laughed to himself and pulled a cigarette from a pack on the dashboard.  He shook his head as he lit up.  “Not even if I had it.”

“So… am I on my own with this or what?”

Ace took a puff and then coolly blew a stream of smoke out the open window.  “I’ve got something else for you.  Something bigger.  Something I really need to know that I can trust you with.”

“OK… so how much will I be earning from this exactly.”

“Roughly sixteen hundred bucks a week.”

“Fucking hell, Ace – are you serious?  I mean… sorry… I don’t usually say… Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” he grinned.  “I’m serious.”

My jaw dropped and hung there limply as I took it all in.  “And that’s on top of this?”

“On top of this.”

It took me a minute to do the sums in my head, and I worked out that by August, I’d have at least twenty-two thousand dollars.  I wanted to reach over and hug him. 

“And you’ll lend me the rest?”

Ace nodded.  “But don’t forget-”

“You want interest.” I rolled my eyes.  “I know.”

It was a massive relief to know that the money was within my reach, but I began to wonder what on earth he had in store for me.  Surely a phenomenal amount of cash did not come without a phenomenal amount of risk.

-3-

Sleeping in Ace’s one-star accommodation left me feeling too tired to work, but I slogged through it anyway because I couldn’t afford to take another day off.  The whole day, I stressed over wondering whether I had done the right thing by telling Keith I’d go on a date with him.  I was worried about what might happen if Ace ever found out.  I was planning to cancel on him all up until I spied a very pretty, pastel-yellow harley dress in a shop window on the way home.  That dress spoke to me – it told me I deserved to go out and have some proper fun for once.  That a good night out would clear my head.  Needless to say, it came home with me.

From that point, all tiredness was kicked out of my system by my excitement for the night ahead.  I sat in my room for an hour preening myself in front of the mirror.  I curled my hair and even put on a touch of makeup to accentuate my hazel eyes.  The whole time, I couldn’t believe how crazy I was going over him.  I never usually bothered with any of that no matter how much I liked a guy.

The sound of a V8 pulling up my driveway made my chest throb with excitement… and then I realized that it sounded a lot like Ace’s car.

I froze… “Oh shit!”

He hadn’t told me he was coming.  I fretted for a moment and decided that I could hide until he went away – and then I realized my doors were unlocked.  I raced for the front door, but Ace pushed it open just as I got to it.

He leered at me, leaning in on the doorframe, his eyes tracing from my new heels and upwards.  “Ooh, Cass,” he said, and he let out a low wolf-whistle.

“What are you doing here?” I sighed.

It only took a second for the penny to drop.  “Fucking Keith,” he shook his head.  “One night and already he’s tryin’ to get into your knickers.”

“Do you have to be so crude?  We were only going out for pizza.”

“I told you-”

“I know what you told me, but I need a good night out.”

“I give you good nights out…”

“Stealing and binge drinking isn’t quite what I had in mind for tonight.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“I dunno… something normal for once?”

Ace looked me over and then smirked to himself.  “You wanna get laid.”

“No!” I said, feeling my cheeks heat up.  “I just wanted to get away from things – to forget about the money for a moment and about how much shit I’m in.”

“Well, that ain’t happening tonight.”  Ace folded his arms and widened his stance as if to block the doorway.  “Forget Keith; you’re comin’ out with me.”  At first, I thought he meant he was going to take me out instead, but no – he was all business.

“What am I gonna tell him?”  Just as I asked the question, another V8 rolled up the driveway and parked behind Ace’s with a slight squeal of the brakes.

“As little as possible,” Ace replied.

Footsteps could be heard out front and then Keith came into view.  He was dressed smart and yet casual in a collared shirt and clean blue jeans.  I had to quickly tuck my tongue back into my mouth or I would have drooled all down the front of my new dress.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Beat it Chambers; me and Cass have got plans.”

“I’m so sorry, Keith,” I cut in, my cheeks burning with regret.  “Something important has come up.  We’ll have to do it another time, okay?” I smiled at him as Ace grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me towards the door.

“Cass,” Keith said, and I dug my heels in.  “You look beautiful.”

I sighed like a smitten school girl and Ace hauled me out to his car.

\--

“You didn’t need to be such an ass about it,” I said as we drove through the streets in Ace’s soft top.

“I explicitly told you not to talk to him.”

“Why?  What, are you jealous?”

Ace looked at me, and I saw his eyes take me in before he put his game face back on.  “The closer you get to someone, the more they wanna know, and I am about to let you in on something big here.  So, until we’re done, I don’t want you seeing anybody and especially not him.  Now, you’d better tell me you’ve got that straight or I’ll drop you off right here and you can sort out your own fucking problems.”

I felt my face start to crumple and a tear went astray, but I quickly took a breath and straightened myself out.  I looked out to the houses that were whizzing by and concentrated on letting the breeze cool me down.  I knew I had to suck it up and put my life on hold for a few months – that’s just the way things were.

“Look, you’ll understand once you see,” he said, placing a consoling hand on my knee.  Despite the thousand contradicting reasons why that shouldn’t have given me any comfort, it did.  Because I did understand, albeit reluctantly.  He had to put all of his trust in me in order to help me get through this, and if I wanted his help, I’d have to play by his rules.


	13. The Grand Plan

The Lincoln purred as I put my foot down and flew past the _Welcome to Chamberlain_ sign on the outskirts of the town.  Ace made me drive because he said I needed the practice.  Before we left, he spent an hour teaching me how to park, and I put a decent sized dent in the right-rear fender of the Lincoln by backing into the old Willys coupe in his front yard.  After that, I couldn’t argue that some practice would do me good.

The 40-mile drive helped me build some confidence, but the thought of driving through a busy town like Chamberlain scared the shit outta me.  I pulled up at the first red traffic light and opened my door.

“Where are you going?” Ace asked.

“You can take it from here.” I got out and walked around to his side.

“Cass, don’t be a pussy," he said through the open window as I battled him to get his door open.  "You’re doing OK."

“I don’t even have my license!  What if a cop pulls us up?”

Ace raised his eyebrows.  “Get back in the fucking car and drive.”

By this time, the lights had turned green and cars were honking at us from behind.  I rolled my eyes and did as I was told before continuing to crawl along the main drag that was Summerland Drive.  Chamberlain far exceeds Castle Rock in size.  Restaurants, diners and pubs plague the town center, and many of them are open until late, even in the middle of the week.  It has a drive-in theater, a bowling alley, and the dance halls are the most popular in the region.

We cruised the strip for a while, and I noticed Ace looking intently into every parking lot and side street as if he was searching for something or someone.

“Pull in here,” he suddenly said.  He pointed to a shopping center that had a long row of seven shops, three of which were open food bars.

“Oh good.  I’m starving.”  I turned off the main street and into the shopping center’s parking lot.

“Park right here, close to the exit.”

There was a perpendicular park right in front of me, and I drove straight into it, thankful that I didn’t have to try any tricky maneuvers.  I turned off the ignition and looked out at the food bars.  “It’s not pizza, but a burger will do.  You’re paying.”

Ace seemed to ignore me and opened the glove box to pull out a flathead screwdriver that was small enough to conceal in the palm of his hand.

“What’s that for?” I asked warily.

“Come with me.  Leave the car unlocked.”

I got out of the car, taking the keys with me.

“What are we doing?” I asked… or more like, demanded.

He walked around to me, took my hand and briskly led me out towards the left side of the parking lot.  It was half full with a cluster of vehicles in the center and the rest sparsely scattered around them.  A strip of bush ran along the left edge, and I was dragged straight into it.

“Ace, this is a brand new dress!”

“Shut up and get down,” he said, pulling me down to crouch on the dirty leaf litter.

“Are you gonna tell me what the hell you’re up to?”

Ace looked out across the parking lot.  “You see that Chevy at the end of the line?” He pointed to a dark blue ’55 with whitewalls and fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror.  It was in mint condition and so polished that it gleamed under the streetlights.

“Yeah…” I said, giving him the sideways eye.

“I could get fifteen hundred bucks for that thing, easy.”

I gaped at him dumbfounded.  “Shit.  So, _this_ is your plan?”

“We could make 3-4 grand a night, Cass.”

“So, you wanna take three cars a night?  Ace, that’s crazy!  Taking _any_ is crazy.”

Ace looked at me with a determined glint in his eyes.  “Not if you know what you’re doing.”  He whipped out a pair of leather gloves from inside his jacket and pulled them on.  “Don’t come out ‘til I’m gone.”

“Wait,” I said, putting a hand on his arm to hold him back.  “Can’t we just talk about this for a moment?”

“Why?  You think you’re gonna come up with a better idea?”

My stomach sunk and I let my hand slip from his arm.

“Get the Lincoln and meet me at the welcome sign just outta town.  I’ll wait for you there.”

Ace emerged from the bushes and took one swift glance at the open food bars before strolling over to the Chevy.  My heart was banging against my sternum.  I prayed to the stars above that nobody would suddenly walk out of there and over to our side of the lot.

I stayed low and chewed my thumb as I watched Ace tuck his hand into his jeans pocket and pull out the small screwdriver.  He pushed the tip into the lock and turned it, wrenching it with force.  With my knowledge of locks, I guessed he’d just snapped the pins.

He slipped into the driver's seat and gently closed the door before bending down and disappearing.  My eyes must have been as wide as saucers as they frantically darted between the stores and the Chevy.

The car suddenly roared to life, breaking the silence of the lot and making my heart leap into my throat.  Ace's head popped up again, and he reversed out of the park before heading down and out of the exit.  He drove onto Summerland Drive, giving the engine a little extra kick for fun.  I couldn’t believe how he seemed to be enjoying this.

“Hey, that’s my car!”

My eyes darted towards the row of stores, and I saw two young guys standing on the sidewalk, wide-mouthed and pointing as they watched the gleaming red taillights of the Chevy heading down Summerland.

“Shit!” yelled the other guy.  “Let’s get _my_ car.  We can still catch the asshole!”

 _I have to stop them;_ that’s all that went through my mind.  I emerged from the bushes and headed to the Lincoln, sticking to a brisk stride so I wouldn't look suspicious.   Meanwhile, the two guys were sprinting in the opposite direction to their vehicle.  They reached it fast, faster than I could reach the Lincoln.  But I was parked right next to the exit and knew it would take them a few seconds to get there.  I ran the last few steps and yanked my door open thanking Ace for telling me to leave it unlocked.  I jammed the keys in the ignition, fired the engine and then hastily reversed the big beast out in a 90-degree turn.

I killed the engine just as a white ’54 Ford pulled up to my rear bumper.  The entry/exit was two lanes wide, but I cunningly parked right in the middle with my huge behind blocking them from using either.

“Hey, get outta the way!” the driver shouted out the window as he leaned on his horn.

“Someone’s got my car!  Get the fuck outta the way!” screamed his passenger.

By now, the Chevy had disappeared from view, but I decided to hold the guys up for as long as possible to make doubly sure Ace had made it out.

The owner of the Chevy gave up on yelling at me, and I saw his door swing open in my rearview mirror.  He was coming my way.  Just as he reached my tail, I fired the ignition again and headed through the exit.

“Stupid bitch!” he cursed.  He sprinted back to the Ford, and his friend hit the gas before he had even closed the door.

I drove out very slowly, doing my best to hold them up some more, but they managed to nip around the side of me and drive out through the entry lane.  Their middle fingers waved out the windows as they tore up Summerland Drive in a now hopeless pursuit of their prized possession.

Unfortunately, Summerland was the only way out of town I knew, and so I had to follow them.  I drove slowly, keeping my distance, and after a while I lost sight of them.  I sighed with some relief, thinking they were so far ahead that they’d be gone for good.

I always seem to have the worst luck.

The sound of tires screeching on the road behind me caught my attention.  My eyes shot to my rear-view mirror, and I saw the white Ford pulling out of a side street.  They raced right up to my bumper, headlights flashing and horn honking.  The next set of traffic lights were red.  I just wanted to shut my eyes and floor it, but the traffic coming through the intersection was too thick.

So, I stopped at the lights, first in the line, and the guys pulled up beside me.  I dared not look at them – I didn’t want them to see my face.  I pushed the lock down on the door and then tapped the wheel, wondering how the hell I could get away from them.

Just then, knuckles rapped on my window and my door was ripped open, giving me the shock of my life.

“You just lost me my car, bitch!” the guy seethed.  His chin protruded out with a dimple in the middle and his jet-black ducktail shone under the street lights from grease overload.

I just gaped at him, wondering why the damn lock didn’t work.

“What you got to say about that?” he asked.

I reached for the door and tried to yank it closed, but he stiffly held it open.

“Let go of my door,” I strained as I battled him for it.  But he was far too strong and had his whole body wedged in the way.

So, I did the only thing I could think of.  I put my foot down on the gas… hard.

My wheels skidded on the road as the heavy beast got moving.  The guy ran a couple of steps with the car and then cursed as he finally had to let go of my door.  The traffic lights were still red, and I held the wheel tight as I shot through the intersection, diving in front of a honking car and just missing out on being T-boned by it.

I glanced at my rear-view mirror to see the Ford fly through the lights after me.  They were hot on my tail.  They drove up beside me, their faces snarling like wild dogs.  Their car was far faster than mine, and there was no way I could outrun them.  So, again, I did the only thing I could think of.  I slammed on the brakes.  They sped ahead of me, and I put my foot back on the gas and hastily turned into the nearest street.  I sunk my foot to the floor and flew through the suburbs, winding and turning down different roads while keeping a general idea of where I was in relation to Summerland so I wouldn’t get lost.  There were no headlights in my rear view mirror, and so I picked a driveway and pulled into it, turning off the car and shutting down the lights.

Adrenaline pumped through me so hard my fingertips prickled.

I stayed there for about twenty minutes, but it felt like two hours.  I doubted Ace would still be waiting for me – I hoped he wouldn’t be.  It was far too risky for him to stay on the open road for so long.

When I thought I’d been hiding for long enough, I crept back to Summerland Drive while constantly scouting out for the white Ford.  I was incredibly nervous and jumped at the sight of every white car on the road, but none of them were the guys in the Ford.  I made it out to the highway, and just as I passed the _You are leaving Chamberlain_ sign, I saw something in my headlights, further up the ahead.  It was Ace’s new blue Chevy.

I slowed down and pulled up behind it just as Ace got out and slammed his door.  I got out of the car, feeling just as furious as he looked.

“Where the fuck’ve you been?” he asked.

“Saving your ass, that’s where!  Some pro you are – you nearly got caught!”

“Bullshit.”

“Bulltrue!  And if it weren’t for me, you’d be in deep shit!  Now, hurry up and get this off the road!  They’ll still be looking for it.”

He gave me a kind of surprised snicker before jogging back to the Chevy.  My heart was beating triple-time as I got into the Lincoln and followed him home, keeping a watchful eye on my mirrors for any sign of a white Ford… or flashing red police lights.

-2-

Ace drove like a bat outta hell the whole way back.  I mean, he very rarely sticks to the speed limit in any case, but he tore up the road with me holding on for dear life behind him.  He sped past his place, and I tooted my horn at him, thinking he’d accidentally missed it in his haste.  Then his indicator came on and I followed his turn into a narrow country road.  We wound and twisted through several back roads, and I wondered where on earth he was taking us.  We were in the middle of absolute nowhere when he finally slowed down and turned into what looked like the entrance to a dirt driveway.  He stopped and opened a gate for us before continuing down the long, bumpy dirt path with me bounding along at his tail.

Eventually, we came to what appeared to be a large trailer home that had a huge corrugated iron shed connected to the back of it.  Ace drove around to the back of the shed and I stopped alongside him as he got out and opened two padlocked double garage doors.  He waved me in and I drove the big beast inside with Ace soon parking his new prize next to it.

“You kept up alright,” he said as we both got out.

“I think I got all the practice I needed tonight.”

I gazed around in both awe and fear.  We were standing in, what I could only describe as, a fully kitted out car workshop.  There were work benches covered in tools and an abundance of equipment like air compressors, welders, blow torches – that type of thing.  Our two cars took up about a third of the shed, but there was room for three times more.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“It’s a die-out garage.  Been setting it up for a couple of months now.  We do everything from changing license plates to serial and engine numbers, we do paint jobs, replace ignitions and locks, clean ‘em out - the lot.  Everything except the papers.”

“Wow… you’re really serious about this.”

“Course I am,” he shrugged.  “It’s gonna make me rich.”  He walked past me, over to one of the benches and starting rummaging through a pile of tools.

“Don’t you feel bad about stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of somebody else’s stuff?  I mean, the guy tonight seemed like an asshole, but he’s probably crying right now.  I know I would be.”

Ace found a squashed pack of cigarettes at the bottom of the pile and opened the box to pull one out that was still good.  “Look,” he said, sticking it in his mouth.  He flipped open his zippo and held the flame to the tip.  “It’s just a car.  I didn’t steal his goddammed mother.  His insurance will take care of it.”

“Oh, now I feel a whole lot better about this…”

“Good.  Because tomorrow night, it’s your turn.”

“Woah… what?  I thought you just wanted me to drive you out.”

“For sixteen hundred bucks a week?”  Ace laughed.  “You wanna earn that kinda cash; you gotta get your hands dirty.”

“But… I can’t _steal_ a car, let alone many cars!  It’s not right!”

“You ripped off half of Castle Rock…”

“That was different.  What if I get caught doing this?”

“You won’t because you’re gonna do everything exactly as I tell you to.”

I looked at the Chevy and tried to picture myself doing what Ace had done that night.

“Look,” he said, “if you don’t wanna do this, that’s your call.  But good luck with telling Diego that he’s not gonna get even half the money he wants from you.”  Ace left me and disappeared through a doorway into, what I guessed was the trailer home.

The thought of looking into Diego’s black and unforgiving eyes to confess that I didn’t have his money scared me so much that forsaking a few morals seemed worth it.  I kept staring at the Chevy, knowing that this was my ticket to freedom.  I just had to take it and hold on for the ride for just a little while and soon it would all be over.

-3-

“Wanna drink?” Ace said through his cigarette, spinning the top off a bottle.

“I think I deserve one.”

I stood in the doorway of the long, two-room trailer home and gazed around.  Ace stood in the kitchen that was to my left, there was a living room to my right, and I could see the foot of a double bed in a separate room way down the end.  The living room was minimal with two sofas that faced each other and a Hi-Fi system in the corner.  I took a seat and rubbed my bare arms, feeling the little goosebumps that covered my skin.  In all the madness, I hadn’t noticed how cold I was.

Ace handed me a glass of straight something, then shucked off his leather jacket and held it out for me to take.

“I’m alright,” I said.

He opened the jacket and dropped it over my shoulders.  It was warm with his body heat and felt too snug to shrug off again, so I left it there.  I took a sip of my drink, and the spicy liquid ran down my throat, warming me as if someone had lit a little fire in my stomach.

“So, who owns this place?” I asked.

Ace took a swig from his glass and leaned against the kitchen bench.  “Me of course.  But, it’s under another name - throws the cops off.”

I cocked a smile.  “Whose name did you put it under?”

“Some guy who only exists on paper.”

“How is that possible?”

“It’s possible,” he shrugged.

“You could still get busted, though.  If the cops come out while you’re here… while we’re here…”

“I got people watching out for me.  If the cops were even a little bit suspicious about this place, I’d soon know about it.”

I chuckled to myself.  “How are you so damn…”

“Smart?”

“Slippery.”

Ace stifled a laugh.  “I just know how to watch my back and cover my ass.”

“Hmm.  That’s admirable.”

I noticed Ace’s eyes do a slight downward flick as he looked at me.

“Boy, it’s getting late,” I said.  I guzzled down the rest of my drink and then shot over the kitchen sink to rinse my glass.  “Are you done?” I asked him, holding out his jacket for him to take.

Ace swirled his drink in his glass and then tossed the rest back.  “Were you seen in the Lincoln tonight?”

“Yeah… why?”

“Then it’s gotta stay here.  We’ll have to ship it out with the rest at the end of the week.  ’Course, we’ll need to buff out that big ding you put in the rear fender first,” he smiled.

I blushed and shoved him in the arm.  “It’s not _that_ big.  So, how are we getting home?”

Suddenly, a vehicle came roaring towards the trailer, its headlights glaring through the kitchen windows.  It came up so loud and fast that I thought it would drive straight through the wall, but it passed by and headed around the back to the shed.  A moment later, another car whipped by and followed the first, around to the back.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

“Our ride.”

\---

Vince’s Studebaker and a crimson Chrysler parked up next to the ’55 Chevy that Ace had acquired.

“Fuck!” yelled Eyeball, slamming his door.

“Hand it over,” Vince smirked, holding out his palm as he walked around his car to Eyeball.

Eyeball protectively put his hand over his wallet that bulged in his back jeans pocket.  “Let’s do best of three.”

“Just gimme the money,” Vince said, screwing up his face.  “You won’t beat me tomorrow night or any other night.  Why?  ‘Cause you’re a fucking loooser.”

“Oh yeah?” Eyeball stepped up so close to Vince that they nearly bumped chests.  “I bet you double I can!”

Vince cocked an eyebrow.  “Double?”

“Double!”

“Deal!” Vince slapped the palm of Eyeball’s hand as the two shook on it.

“I thought I told you two, no more racing,” Ace stepped in.

“Oh, come on, Ace, it was just a bit of fun,” Vince said.

“Yeah, there weren’t no one around,” Eyeball chimed in.

Vince caught sight of me standing in the doorway, and his eyes grew as big as his mouth.  “What the fuck is she doing here?”

Ace took one last deep drag on the stump of his cigarette before stubbing it out on the workbench.  “Cassie’s joining the team.”

“What?” Vince choked.

“Like I told you, I’m not boosting anymore.  And I need someone to take my place.”

“Well, what about Billy?  Or Charlie?”

Ace scoffed.  “Those two couldn’t keep a secret if their lives depended on it.”

“What about Jack or Fuzzy?”

“They’re amateurs.  I need someone solid and reliable that can do the job every time without a hitch.”

Vince folded his arms and stared at me with a patronizing glare.  “And that’s her?”

“Are you questioning me, Vince?” Ace said.

“Yeah, lighten up, man,” Eyeball cut in.  “If Ace says she can do it then she can do it!”

Vince looked me up and down, still with that cynical look on his face like someone had just told him that man was about to set foot on the moon.  I hated Vince with a vengeance, but he put fire in my belly.  I felt it glow like a red-hot furnace, burning up any last doubts and driving me forward to prove him wrong. 


	14. Life After Death

“Piss off, man!  I’m trying to drive here!” Vince swatted Eyeball’s hand away as Eyeball laughed and had another go at putting his finger in Vince’s ear.

Eyeball had been at it the whole way back to Ace’s, annoying Vince from the back seat by covering his eyes or sticking his fingers in his ears or up his nose.  I rolled my eyes at their childish antics but had to laugh.  Eyeball sure is inventive when it comes to finding new ways to irritate his buddy.  If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought the two were brothers.  There was always this sense of sibling rivalry between the two of them.

I wondered if Eyeball ever annoyed Chris like that.

We pulled up at Ace’s at around two in the morning.  I climbed out of Vince’s Studebaker cold, tired and starving.  Vince offered to drop me home as well, but I didn’t trust him.  I thought he was more likely to drive me out into the middle of nowhere and leave me there.

So, he and Eyeball headed off, leaving Ace and I.

“Which car are we taking?” I asked him, looking between the ’49 and his ’32 pickup.

“I’ll take you later.”  He stepped up onto the front deck of his house and booted his front door open before going inside.

“But…” I rolled my eyes and growled, wondering what on earth could be more urgent than dropping me home so I could eat and sleep.

I reluctantly followed him inside to see him rummaging through the fridge and stacking his arms full of all sorts of produce.

“You like mushrooms?” he asked.

I raised my eyebrows at him.  “Yeah…”

He stacked a punnet of button mushrooms on top of his armload and then walked across the kitchen to dump it all on the bench.  Out came a frying pan and a sharp knife, and soon bits of food were being thrown onto the heat.

I stood next to him, watching, slightly amazed at what I was seeing.

“You’re cooking…”

“Don’t be so surprised.”

His knife skills were actually better than mine.  He sure could dice an onion fast.

“Sorry, I just never… imagined you… doing all this.”

He shrugged.  “I’ve always cooked.  It’s not like I ever had a mother around to do it for me.”

He tossed the pan a couple of times and soon dumped a perfect omelet onto a plate and handed it to me.  “Forks in there,” he pointed.

I grabbed some cutlery from the draws and then sat at his table to shovel the food into my mouth, not caring if I ate like a half-starved, feral animal.  The omelet smelled amazing and tasted even better.  The egg was slightly runny in the center, creating a sauce to accompany the vast number of vegetables that were swimming around my taste buds.

“You look like you’re enjoying it,” he said, sliding his plate onto the table before taking a seat.

“It’s delicious.”  I finished and politely belched into my hand.  “And filling.  Thank you.”

As I watched him eat, I kept thinking back to what he’d said about his mother.  I wanted to ask – I really, badly did.  I’d been curious about her since the last time she came up in conversation when Ace drove me to my old place in Hutt.  But he had seemed so reluctant to talk about her that I didn’t know if I should dare to ask.

“So why…”  The words had been sitting so close to the end of my tongue that they fell out without my meaning to.  “Sorry… don’t worry,” I murmured.

Ace stared at me for a moment as another fork load of food disappeared into his mouth.  I was sure he knew exactly what my question would have been, and I blushed, feeling embarrassed about intruding into his personal business.

“She hated my old man,” he said suddenly.

“Oh…”

He finished his last mouthful and then pushed his plate away and leaned back in his chair and stiffly folded his arms.  “He wasn’t good for her.  Hell, he was ten years older than her, knocked her up when she’d barely left high school and then spent the next six years fucking around on her.”

“Oh…” Now I was really blushing.

“I can’t blame her for leaving, Cass, and I can’t blame her for not wanting to take me with her.  Why would she?  I was the mistake that ruined her fucking life.”

“OK,” I said, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.  “You can stop right there.  I shouldn’t have asked.”

Ace grabbed a packet of cigarettes off the table and lit one up.  “The last time I saw her was a few years back.  Hadn’t seen her for over half my life, and you know what she did when she saw _me_?  She ran.  No ‘Hi Son, how you been,' nothin’.  My own mother saw me, and she just fucking ran without looking back.”

“God… that must’ve been awful for you.”

“But I understand why she did that.  She looked at me, and all she saw was my old man.  And she couldn’t bear it.”

“But Ace, that wasn’t fair on you.  She’s your mother.”

“Yeah, she is.  And if she ever needs anything from me, I’ll be there for her.  If anyone ever touches her or says a bad word about her, I’ll fucking kill them.  She had it rough with my old man, and now she’s free to live the life she always wanted.  I’m not gonna take that away from her.  I don’t need her anyway.”

“When my mom ‘ran away’ from me I was never that forgiving.”

“But you didn’t need her either – not really – and I bet she knew it.  Sounds like she was miserable.”

“Yeah, she was.”

“And now she’s not.  So just let her go.”

I looked at Ace and smiled as I saw some truth in what he said.  For the first time since her death I found reason to feel happy for her.  Happy that she was no longer living her worst nightmare.  She was free and at peace, and that gave me a sense of closure.

“You want me to take you home now?” Ace asked.

“Yes please.”

-2-

The four hours sleep I got that night were the best I’d had in weeks.  Months maybe.  My resentment for my mother seemed to have left me, and I was beginning to look ahead and appreciate the people I did have.  Rose and Violet mainly; they were always there for me, no matter what it was I needed.  I wasn’t sure if Chris was still mad at me, but I decided to count him in anyway.  And Ace… well, I still didn’t know about Ace.

I walked to work, happily thinking that’d I’d be spending the day with two of my favorite people in the world – my surrogate grandmothers.  But when I arrived to find the front door of the diner still locked, I just knew something was wrong.  Usually, they were well into prep by the time I arrived.

I walked around to the back of the diner, crossed the back street, and jumped over their little, white picket fence.  I softly knocked on the door, calling their names, but got no answer.  A chilling feeling ran down my spine.  I turned the knob and pushed the door of their quaint little house open to see Violet sitting at her dining table, silently staring at the floor.

“Violet, what’s the matter?” I asked.

She glanced up at me with her big blue eyes, reddened from a lack of sleep.  Her face was ghostly white and she looked like she’d aged ten years overnight.  Her mouth opened and then closed again like she couldn’t bring herself to utter the words.  My stomach sunk with despair as I realized what was wrong.  Overcome with emotion, I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around her tiny waist, drenching her apron with tears.

Violet had lived for eighty years with her sister by her side, and now she was without her.

I called Ace and told him that our plans were off for the night, maybe even for the week.  Violet needed me, and I was going to be there for her.

The funeral came and went, and Violet wasn’t coping.  She’d aimlessly wander around the house, forgetting where she was and what she was doing.  Violet’s daughter didn’t seem to be one for patience, and she wanted to take her mother with her, back to her hometown in Nevada the very next day.  It all seemed to be happening so fast.  The other two waitresses and I begged the daughter to let us continue running the diner, but she wouldn't have it.  I knew the truth; it was evident - she wanted Violet to sell up so she could get her hands on the money.

So, the diner and their little home across the way were left in the hands of an agent to sell.  The daughter wanted the place I was living in too, but luckily for me, Violet managed to convince her to let me keep it, at least for a while.  It was one small success out of everything I had lost.

I got one last goodbye hug, and then Violet was whisked away out of my life.

Being famous and all, the diner was snapped up fast.  Only a week went by before the ‘for sale’ sign came down.  Word on the street was that it was sold to out-of-towners.  I pressed my forehead against the large storefront windows and closed my eyes to remember the warmth of Rose and Violet’s hugs as they first welcomed me into their home before they fed me up on their famous spicy pumpkin soup.  But when I opened my eyes again, what I saw set me back into the bleak world of reality.

The place had been gutted right down to the four walls.  The booths were gone, the counter was gone, and even the floor had been ripped up.  Whoever did it would have had every legal right to, but I couldn’t help feeling personally violated.

But what I thought and what I wanted didn’t matter – just like it never does.  All I could do was thank them and say goodbye.

\-----

I walked through the front door of the pool hall, looking around for any familiar faces.  I saw two – Joe who, as usual, was staring at me from under his heavy eyebrows from behind the bar, and Eyeball who was standing nearby and chatting amongst a group of guys I didn’t know.  I walked to the back of the place and slipped into their usual booth to wait.

“I heard your old lady kicked the bucket,” Eyeball said as he slid into the booth across from me.  He’d brought a beer and a bowl of salted peanuts with him and took a handful and cupped them into his mouth.

“Just when things seem to be going well for me, it all falls apart,” I said.

“Wanna drink?”

“No thanks.  Ace told me to meet him here.  We’re supposed to be… you know… and so I need my wits about me.”

Eyeball relaxed back in his seat and stared at me in thought for a minute before rolling a few more peanuts into his mouth.  “So, what’s with you and Ace, anyway?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

He smirked.  “I mean, what’s happening with you two?  Jesus, you’ve been flirtin’ with each other since day one and-”

“Woah, woah – are you kidding?  I barely even like him.  In fact, I borderline hate him.”

“Bullshit.”

“Bulltrue.  With the way he treats Chris I can barely stand to look at him.”

“Yeah, well, Ace wouldn’t give Chris half the trouble if he’d learn to watch his mouth.”

“Wow, you sound just like Ace – always blaming Chris.  _‘Oh, but Chris provoked me_ ,' he says, _‘what could I do but hold a knife to the kid’s throat and almost kill him?’_   That’s what’s bullshit, Eyeball.”

“Chris told Ace to go fuck his mother!  You think he’s just gonna ignore that shit?”

“He said _what_?”

“And he knows just as well as anyone that you don’t go near talking about Ace’s mother – especially like that.  He was just askin’ for an ass-whipping, and he almost got it.”

I gaped him in shock – I couldn’t fathom Chris uttering such words but couldn’t find a reason not to believe Eyeball either.  I still thought it no excuse for Ace to do what he did, but Chris had kicked a bull in the ass and it’d come charging.  I was a little disappointed in Chris for not telling me the full story.  It had skewed my view into being very one-sided when both of them played their parts.

“So… you were there?” I added.  “You were there, and you stood and watched as Ace nearly killed him?  What kind of a brother are you?”

The color from Eyeball’s face drained before my eyes, and suddenly he wouldn’t look at me.  His gaze dropped to the table, and I could almost see the memories of that day playing out in his mind.

“Sorry,” I muttered.  “I shouldn’t have said that.  I don’t know what happened.  Maybe there was nothing you could’ve done.”

“No,” he said, still staring at the table.  “I could’ve tried to stop Ace.  But I didn’t.  Dunno why.  Guess I never thought he’d actually… do it.”

“I think Ace has had to let go of a lot of hate.  Maybe that day it all came crashing back down on him.  Maybe it wasn’t just Chris he was angry at.  I dunno.”

We sat there for a few moments with our thoughts and then Eyeball grabbed another handful of peanuts to chew on.  “Still think you’re in denial,” he said with a sly smile.

“Oh, shut up.”  I snatched a peanut from his bowl and threw it at him.  And then I grabbed a small handful and tossed them into my mouth.  “And anyway,” I said, still chewing, “Ace’s already got a girl.”

“Who?”

“Actually… I’m not supposed to mention her.  Woops.”

“You talking about Antonia,” he said lowly.  “You know about her?”

“We… crossed paths once.”

“Well, Ace hardly even sees her.  And if Diego ever found out Ace has been… I mean… has been with his niece, he’d hang him by his balls.”

I gaped at him, flabbergasted.  “She’s Diego’s niece?  Are you for real?”

“Yeah.  And she ain’t worth the trouble.  Ace knows it – he’s just gotta stop letting his… I mean, he’s gotta make his brain do the thinking.  God, it’s hard talkin’ around girls sometimes.”

Just then, Ace strolled into the bar with Vince tailing him.  He cuffed some unsuspecting guy over the back of the head and then looked in our direction.

“Shit…” I said.

Eyeball glanced over his shoulder to see his buddies heading our way.  “What’s the problem, Cass?” he asked, his grin growing to the size of east Oregon.

“Don’t you dare say a word,” I warned him.

“Why?  ‘Cause you know it’s true?”

I stole another glance at Ace.  He was like nobody I’d ever met before.  Cool, cunning, calculating, daring, intelligent and always in control.  He had dreams bigger than any stretch of my imagination, and he had the balls and determination to make them a reality.  And damn was he fine.  I mean, it was hard for me not to notice those cunning, pale blue eyes that spoke danger, his solid shoulders, and he could whip that shirt off any…

Ace’s eyes met mine as he neared our table, interrupting my stray thoughts.  I guiltily looked away and noticed that my cheeks were burning hot.

“Hey, Cass, how are you doing?” he said, patting me on the head and messing my hair a little.

“I’m OK.”

I slid over to make room for him to sit, and Eyeball did the same for Vince.  I moved over a little more to get as far away from Ace as possible.

“You sure you’re up for this tonight?” he asked me.

“Of course,” I said, avoiding all eye contact with him.

“This should be a hoot,” Vince muttered under his breath.

“Oh, shut up, Vince,” I barked.

“I’d even put money on you fucking up tonight.”

“Hey,” Ace said, pointing a firm finger at Vince, “watch your fucking mouth.  She’s gonna do just fine tonight, aren’t you Cass?”

I gave him a small smile of appreciation.  At least somebody seemed to have my back.  Maybe I could count him in on my side after all.


	15. All Bets Are On

“Roll them,” Ace said, handing me a pair of dice.

“What for?” I asked.

“Where we boost has gotta be random.”

I dropped the dice onto the kitchen floor of the trailer at the center of where we all stood.

“Alright!  Eight,” Eyeball called.  “Lewiston.”

“What’s so great about Lewiston?” Vince scoffed.

Ace stifled a laugh.  “The cute redhead,” he said before taking a swig from his bottle.

“Oh yeah!  I got her number,” Vince said.

“So what?  I got her address,” Eyeball smiled.

“You stay the fuck away,” Vince pointed at him.

“You can’t make me,” Eyeball sneered.  “Besides, she don’t even like you.”

Vince clenched his fists and walked staunchly, right up to Eyeball.

“Cool it you two,” Ace said smoothly.  “I’d be surprised if a doll like that is interested in either one of you boneheads.  Now, listen up.  I’m driving you out tonight.  I’ll drop you two in Auburn, and then me and Cass will go on into Lewiston.  And stay on your side of the bridge,” he said, firmly.

Eyeball sighed, his disappointment obvious.

“What on earth happened to Carol?” I asked him.

“Nothin’,” he shrugged like that was a dumb question.

“We’ll take my car,” Ace said.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Vince asked.

“Don’t fucking question me.  Now, let’s go – move it.”

“Shotgun!” yelled Eyeball, tossing his empty bottle in the trash before diving out the door, past Vince.

Vince hurriedly downed the last of his drink before darting outside to challenge Eyeball for the front-seat position.

“Fucking dumb sons-of-bitches.”  Ace took the last swig of his beer and swung the empty bottle into the trashcan with a loud smash of glass.

“Why was Vince worried about taking your car?”

“Don’t you question me either.  Now, let’s do this.”

Eyeball sat smugly in the front seat of Ace’s ’49 while Vince pouted in the back.  I had to laugh.  It was always funny watching them try to outdo each other.  I jumped over the side, into the back seat next to Vince, and he rolled his eyes and muttered to himself.

Ace took the wheel, and we started out to Lewiston.  It’s roughly an hour’s drive south of Castle Rock, but for those with a lead foot (like him), it’s closer to half an hour.

“Hey,” Vince said, leaning in close to my ear.  “I meant what I said about putting money on you fucking up tonight.”

“What?” I gaped at him.  “Piss off.”

“Ten bucks says you can’t get a car back to the garage without something going wrong.”

I looked to Ace to see if he heard Vince giving me a hard time again, but he kept on driving.  The hum of the V8 and the rush of the wind seemed to help keep our conversation discreet.

“I’m amazed you’ve got anything left to bet _with_ after I kicked your ass at pool the other night,” I said.

“OK – let’s make it twenty.”

I thought about it for a moment.  “Alright, Vince – you wanna bet on this?  Let’s make it real.  One hundred dollars.  And… the loser has to kiss the winner’s feet,” I smiled.

“Ha! You’re on,” he sniggered, bumping my shoulder with his.

I quietly laughed to myself.  Vince was far too easy to rope in.  The chances of me screwing up that night were slim to none – after all, Ace would be there with me the whole time.

It wasn’t long before we hit Lewiston-Auburn which is the second largest town in the state after Portland.  A river separates the twin cities, and train tracks connect it to Castle Rock which is to the north.

We dropped Vince and Eyeball off on the outskirts of Auburn, and I jumped into the front seat before Ace and I continued over the bridge and into Lewiston.  Ace found a quiet neighborhood street to park in some distance away from the city center.

“You ready to do this?” he asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”  I was slightly quivering, but my bet with Vince and the vision of Diego’s dark eyes were driving me forward.  There were a few cars scattered around; some were parked on the road and some were in driveways.  “Should I take one of these around here?”

“Taking from the suburbs is a bad idea,” Ace said, scanning the area.  “People keep a closer eye on their cars, everyone knows who owns what and if you aren’t from around here.  Did you see that?” he nodded at the house across the street.

“See what?”

“Curtain movement.  We’ve already been seen.  They probably heard us pull up.”

“So, what do we do?”

“We go for a stroll.”

Ace pulled his keys from the ignition, and we both got out of the car.  We walked out to the main road and headed towards town.  The road went through a low-key commercial area with department stores, bookstores and travel centers that were all closed for the night.  We were alone on the sidewalk, and those who drove past seemed to be going about their own business and not paying any attention to what we were doing.  I thought this was the perfect opportunity to pick off one of the stray cars that were around.

“What about that one, right there?” I asked Ace, slowing our walking pace.  I pointed to a Buick Roadmaster that was parked on the roadside not far ahead of us.

“It’s doable,” he nodded.  “It’s in good shape, won’t need a lot of work, and it’ll have a decent speed.  Never get anything sluggish.  If the cops ever chase you, you’ll be in trouble.”

“What, are you trying to put me off?”

“Gotta think of these things,” he shrugged.

I breathed deep and braced myself as I focused on the Roadmaster and the task ahead.  I let my mind go blank and pretended that I wasn’t about to commit an atrocious crime that I’d never forgive myself for.  “OK – I’m gonna go for it,” I said.

“Woah, woah, hold it,” Ace said, touching my arm and ceasing our stroll.  He was looking ahead into the darkness where a car had turned into our road and was driving towards us.  “Shit.  Goddammit…”

“What is it?”

“Come here, quick.”  Ace wrapped his arm around my shoulders and hugged me in tight to his side.

“What the…?”

“Follow my lead.”

I squinted at the headlights that were growing larger by the second.  They were on high-beam and so blinding that I had to look away.  It wasn’t until the car stopped across the road from us that I could see the black and white markings and the twin red lights and siren on the roof.

“Oh shit…”

“Let me do the talking,” Ace mumbled into my ear.  His stubbly chin lightly brushed my neck, sending a tingle down the entire right side of my body.

One of the officers got out of the car and strolled over to us, taking a notepad and pen from his front shirt pocket.  He looked all authoritative, dressed smartly in his official tan uniform, and I had to remind myself to breathe.

“What are you doing tonight, Merrill?” the officer asked.  He looked at his watch and then wrote on his little notepad.

“Taking my girl to the movies.  There ain’t a law against that, is there?”

The officer’s eyes gazed at me from head to toe.  I was wearing jeans and a short sleeved button up shirt; I wasn’t exactly dressed for a date, and I’m sure he noticed that.  “Where’s your car?” he asked.

“Parked back there on Robinson Road.”

“It’s a long walk to the movies from there, isn’t it?”

“So what?”

The officer glared at him, and I wasn’t at all comfortable with Ace giving him attitude.  All we needed to do was cooperate, and he’d soon go away.

“I’ve been cooped up inside for the last few days,” I spoke up.  “I needed some air.”

The officer seemed to ignore me and kept writing on his notepad.  “What time is the movie?” he asked.

“Hell, I dunno,” Ace said.  “We’re just gonna go there and pick one.  Jesus, I can’t even take my girl out without being harassed by you guys.”

“Your Sheriff says you’re worth keeping an eye on.”

“He wants people to think he’s doing his job.”

The officer’s eyes flicked from Ace to me and then back again.  “Stay out of trouble, Merrill.”  He tucked his notepad and pen back into his shirt pocket and then strolled back to his car and drove off.

We watched as their taillights disappeared around a corner and then Ace’s arm slid off my shoulders.  I couldn’t help wishing he’d put it back.

“Is there something I should know?” I asked.

“Nope.”  He went to walk off, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back around to me.

“Look, if you wanna use me as a stand-in girlfriend every time the cops show up, then I want an explanation.  Do they know about the cars?”

“They don’t know jack shit about anything.  They think if they follow me around they’ll catch me doing something.  But that ain’t gonna happen.”

“’Cause you’re not boosting anymore…”

“Not for a while anyway.  Not until things cool down.”

“And what about that hot-car racket you’ve got stashed away in the countryside?  What if they find that?”

“The only way they’d find it is if they follow us there and that won’t happen either.  Not if we’re always on the lookout.”

We continued on, slowly walking in silence.  We left the Roadmaster behind – it was far too risky to take that after we’d been seen near it.  I tried scouting for another good car to take, but my confidence was now at an all-time low.  I couldn’t get my head into the game anymore.  I just wanted to go home and do it another night.

And then I felt Ace’s arm wrap around my shoulders once again, and he gave me a squeeze.  “You’ve just gotta trust me.  OK, Cass?”

I gave him a sideways glance and nodded.

“Good girl,” he said and then kissed me on the temple.

Any night before that one I would have shoved him off me, but it had been a long time since I was tucked up under someone’s arm.  I found myself melting into him and closing my eyes as I relaxed against his warm side, and for a moment I felt all the pressures of the world lift off my shoulders.  Because I did trust him – I trusted that he would get me through all of this, one way or another.

We made it to the city center of Lewiston which was just the same as always on a Friday night - one big teen playground.  Boss cars, hot rods and drag races in the streets, cars full of girls cruising the strip looking for a good time and cars full of guys looking to get laid.  The sheer number of people was concerning, but Ace assured me that we’d find somewhere quiet.

His arm had been wrapped around me the whole way, and I began to wonder why.  Maybe we were friends now.  Maybe he was very subtly putting the moves on.  My stomach fluttered at the idea.  I thought about putting my arm around him as well, but I couldn’t buck up the courage.  Doing that would speak volumes, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to shout it so loud just yet.

“There’s a hospital down there,” he said, pointing down a side-road.

We stopped in our tracks, and I gazed down the road, seeing not much in the blackness.

“A hospital?  No… I really don’t think I could steal from a hospital.”

“It’s a good pick.  Quiet at this time of night, usually no one around…”

“But they’re sick people and good Samaritans.”

“Cass, I’m not walking around the entire night because of your overactive conscious.”

“And I’m not taking anything from the sick and the needy because of your lack of conscience.”

Ace gave me the sideways eye.  “You make a fucking _useless_ criminal,” he said.

I jabbed him in the ribs with my fingers, making him flinch slightly.  “Let’s keep going.”

“Ace!”

We both turned around in unison, and his arm dropped off my shoulders.  He took a couple of steps forward, leaving me behind as he peered down the street to see who was calling him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

The black-haired beauty stepped out of the ritzy club and strode towards us, her heels clicking on the pavement as her hips swayed in her short, black cocktail dress like she was modeling it down a catwalk.

“There you are,” she smiled, eyeing him deviously with her dark eyes.  She smoothly slipped her arms around him and didn’t even look at me.

“How’d you get out?” Ace asked.

“I told you I’d be staying with my mother, remember?  I’ve been trying to call you all week.”  Her voice was so velvety soft that speaking seemed effortless for her.  “My friends and I are sharing cocktails at Capozzoli’s.  Come on,” she smiled.  She went to walk off with him, but he stood solid.

“I can’t right now; I’m busy.”

Her whole face dropped in shocked surprise like he’d just slapped her.  “With what?”

“You know me, Ants…”

“I told you not to call me that,” she whispered in close to him, her cheeks looking a little pinker.

“I’ll come back later,” he said.

“I might not be here.  Come with me now.  Please?”  She rubbed her perfectly manicured fingers over and around Ace’s side and looked up at him with a pout.

Ace looked back at me for a moment like he was weighing up his options and I just stood there awkwardly, fiddling with the rim of my shirt.  Whether he had been leading me on or not, it was clear to me that she had ultimately won him over.  And why wouldn’t she?  She seemed to have everything he could want.  Beauty, money and sex appeal that oozed from every inch of her.  All I had was a thirty-one thousand dollar debt and to her uncle of all people.  Jealousy didn’t cover it.  She made me feel inadequate.  And I wasn’t even going to try to compete.

“Ace… if you want to go, then go,” I murmured.

He frowned at me like that was the last thing he was expecting to hear.  I could understand why because that was the last thing I was expecting to say.  But I was so gut-wrenchingly disappointed that I couldn’t bear to be around him anymore.

He looked at the girl that was clutched to his waist and she gave him a sultry smile.

“You think you’ll be alright?” he asked me.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, annoyed that he’d agreed to it so quickly.  “You said so yourself, remember?”

I turned away and started walking up the sidewalk.  When I was a little way ahead, I couldn’t help steal a glance over my shoulder.  Ace was standing at the door of the club, looking back at me.  For a moment, I thought he would change his mind and come after me, but then he led her inside and they were soon gone from my sight.

I looked at the path ahead and held my head high.

 _Fuck him_ , I thought.  _Fuck him_.


	16. Secret of Success

It was the perfect spot.  I was standing outside Lewiston High School, looking in at the main hall where music from a live band was pouring out of every crack and window.  Saxophones, stand-up bass and guitar were covering _Rock Around the Clock,_ and I could see teens inside, bopping the night away in their suits and poodle skirts.  It looked like a school dance – everyone was inside having fun, and nobody was in the parking lot out front.

I had to hurry.  There was no time to think.  I walked through the gates and straight up to the one that I had picked out from the roadside.  It was a ’38 Ford Coupe - I knew that because I once had a boyfriend who had one just the same but his was dark blue.  This one was gleaming red with whitewalls, a split windshield and an ass to die for.  Quite frankly, it was the hottest thing in the parking lot.  I couldn’t wait to see the look on Vince’s face when I rolled up in this beauty.

It was on the left-edge of the lot, three rows from the front, and I was not in the direct line of sight of the people in the hall.  I whipped my tension wrench and pick from my back pocket and poked them both into the keyhole.

Adrenaline surged through my system.  It was pouring through me so thick I could taste it.  It made my head so clear and focused that I picked the lock in under five seconds flat.  I opened the door and slid into the incredibly comfortable leather interior before sticking my tools into the ignition.  After another few seconds, my tension wrench turned all the way and the red beast purred.  Excitement leaped up within me, and my grin was wide.  Everything seemed to be going so perfectly; it was like it was meant to be.

And then I put my foot on the gas.

It was just a touch and the V8 spat out a roar as loud as a hotrod on a drag strip.  Any coolness I’d had about me evaporated as quick as an ice-cube being thrown on a flame grill.  I panicked.  I threw the car into reverse and frantically snaked backward out of the parking lot, all the way out onto the street.  Lucky there weren’t any cars coming because I sure as hell didn’t stop to look.  I threw the car into gear and peeled out, praying that the music was loud enough to drown out the commotion outside.

I flew past the ‘Now leaving Lewiston’ sign with one eye on the road and the other on my rearview mirror.  No angry people were chasing me and - more importantly - no cops.  It seemed that the hard part was done.  Now I just had to get this baby back.

The guilt of what I had done began to creep in as I drove, and I had to swat at it to keep it away.  If I let it fester, it would eat me alive.  I tried to remind myself of the positives.  This would earn me a lot of money – and it was easy.  And boy, Vince would be pissed.

“You sure are a beautiful car,” I said, patting the dashboard.

As the ‘15 miles to Castle Rock’ sign came and went, I beamed.  “We’re nearly there.”

And then, right at that moment, as if Karma herself decided to make a late appearance, the engine began to judder every few seconds, shaking the entire car.

“Oh no… don’t you dare…” I said as everything vibrated around me.  “Just another few miles, I beg you.”

It heard my pleas but showed me no mercy.  It just spat and coughed for a while before slowing to a roll and then dying on the side of the road.

“Shit!” I said, pounding both fists on the wheel.  I jammed my picks in the ignition again and tried the starter, but it blatantly refused me.  “Come on, this isn’t fair!  At least tell me why!”

And then it answered me loud and clear.  I frowned down at the dashboard to see the needle of the gas gauge pointing to ‘E’.

-2-

I blamed Ace entirely.  He was supposed to warn me about these things.

It took me about a second to decide that I had no choice but to abandon it.  The guys might have been and gone, and I couldn’t risk hanging around in case it had already been reported stolen.

“What a waste,” I thought.  Again, I blamed Ace entirely.

I wiped my prints with a small cloth that I had brought with me for that exact purpose and then started the hike back to town along the side of the desolate highway.  I hadn’t walked even ten paces when I heard a vehicle coming up behind me in the distance.  I turned to see two headlights growing larger by the second - this car was moving fast and it could’ve been anybody.

I was in open country with nowhere safe to hide and no time to run.  All I could do was duck.  I got down low on the passenger’s side and crossed every finger that the car would continue on its way without stopping to investigate.

But Karma wasn’t quite done with punishing me yet.

A dark blue Dodge pulled up behind me, and the driver got out but left the engine running.  I heard boots clomp on the road as they paced towards the front of my vehicle on the driver’s side.  I quietly crept towards the trunk, staying as low as I could.

It was then that I had a lightbulb moment.  _I could steal his car._ It was a genius idea, really.  After all, he wouldn’t exactly be able to chase me.

As I saw a shadow of the guy walk around to the passenger’s side, I nipped between the two vehicles and around to the open driver’s door.  I felt my stomach do a little jump for joy…

“Cass?” a voice said with a hint of a snigger.

“Shit…” I said, recognizing that snigger. 

“What the fuck are you doin’, O’Connor?” Vince said, strutting over to me with his thumbs jammed in the front pockets of his Levi’s.

“Stealing your car, asshole…” I nipped into the driver’s seat and went to pull the door closed, but he held it open and jammed himself in the way.

“Oh no, you ain’t.”  He grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt and hoisted me back out again with ease.  “What’s the problem?  Engine troubles?”

I sighed and stared at the ground.  “Something like that.”

“Did you run outta gas?”

I gave the front tire of his vehicle a swift, hard boot.

“Aha-ha-ha!” he cackled.  “What did I tell you, huh?  What did I fuckin’ tell you?  Was I right or was I right?”

“Look, can you help me get outta this or what?”

“Do I look like a walking gas canister to you?  I ain’t got none to spare.  Maybe you’ll just have to push it back.”

“Vince, come on.  We’ve got no time to mess around.  Is there any way we can rescue this or are we leaving it here?”

Vince seemed to think for a minute and then snapped into action.  “Let’s check the trunks.”  He rushed to the rear of his vehicle and found his trunk locked tight.

“I can get that,” I said, taking out my lock picks.  It must have been the pressure of having Vince watching me because somehow I raked my pick across the pins a couple of times and beat my five-second record hands down.

I saw an impressed smirk rise to the corner of his lips, but he quickly wiped it off.  Even I couldn’t believe it.

I moved to my trunk next and tested my newly found raking technique.  Again, I got it done in a couple of seconds, and I couldn’t stop beaming about it.

My luck seemed to be changing.  I opened my trunk, and what I saw made me literally jump for joy.  “I’ve got a tow rope!”

“I got something better,” Vince called out, uncoiling a garden hose through his hands.

“A garden hose?” I asked, carrying my rope to him, still convinced that my find was better.

“God Cassie, you’ve got a lot to learn.”  He pulled his knife from the leather sheath that hung from his belt and cut the hose off at a decent length before tossing the rest aside.  He then drove his Dodge forwards to park it alongside my car so the fuel tanks were close.  He pushed one end of the hose down into his fuel tank and put the other end between his lips to suck the fuel through.  Just as it reached the top, he quickly shoved it into my tank to let it drain out of his.

“Wow, that’s clever,” I blurted out before I could bite it back.

_Great.  That_ _’ll go straight to his ego…_

Vince raised his eyebrows at the compliment.  “Well, now you know how to siphon gas.”

I had to admit, Vince was proving that he’s not as dumb as he looks.

He leaned back against his vehicle with his arms tightly folded as we waited for the fuel to drain.  “So,” he smirked.  “Cassie broke the number one rule.  Surprise, surprise.”

“That may be, but I think leaving behind a decent car just because it’s low on gas is a complete waste.  I mean, finding one with a full tank could take all night.”

“Yeah… you think this is the first car I got into?  This was my third.”

“But that’s stupid!  Having to break into more than one car means more chance of being seen.  We should do one car and one car only.”

“Like you?” he mocked.  “If a car don’t got gas, it don’t go.  And we can’t carry gas canisters around with us, can we?”

“No… but what if we hide some along the highway on our way out of town?  One for you, one for me and one for Eyeball.  And then on the way back, whether we need the gas or not, we pick up our canister and bring it home.”

Vince frowned at me as the idea ticked over in his mind.  Maybe he was beginning to realize that I’m not as dumb as I look.

“Don’t you think that’ll be enough?” I asked, gesturing at the tanks.

“Yeah, that oughta save you.”  He pulled out the hose and carelessly tossed it onto the grass.  “Hey, another hundred bucks says I can beat you back to the garage.”

“No… you go on ahead.  I’ll meet you there.”  I couldn’t afford to lose even more money.

I headed back to my car, and Vince wasted no time in peeling out behind me and taking off into the distance.  I picked the ignition once again, but this time the roar of the engine was music to my ears.

\----

I parked my shiny new prize next to Vince’s Dodge in the die-out garage.  They were the only two cars there; there was no sign that Eyeball had been back yet.  I bet I knew what he would be doing.  I walked through into the trailer, and the lights almost blinded me after being in darkness for so long.  I squinted to see Vince sitting on one of the sofa arms, beer in hand.

“More in the fridge,” he said.

I went to the bench and ran my fingers over the stockpile of other liquor bottles that were cluttered together.

“Just don’t drink the scotch.  Ace’ll have a fit.”

I had to hold myself back from grabbing the bottle of scotch and pouring it down the sink.

“Where is Ace, anyway?” he asked.

“He won’t be back tonight,” I muttered as I poured myself a shot of something from a glass decanter.  I couldn’t tell what it was, but it smelt potent and that was all that mattered.

“Why?”

“Because he’s off getting laid, that’s why.  Just when I thought he might have some sense about him, he runs off with some rich chick in a short skirt like a pussy-whipped little boy.”

“Ooh… sounds like someone’s jealous…”

“No way.  She can have the bastard.”  I tossed back my shot and then poured another.

“So, when am I gonna get my money?” he asked.

“When I get mine, Vince,” I said before throwing back another shot.

“But you can take care of the feet kissing right now, right?”

I glared at him wide-eyed.  “You don’t really expect me to… I mean, I didn’t mean it like that.  I just meant… figuratively speaking.”

“Oh, Cassie,” he said, his smile growing, “you know what you meant.  And I know why you said it.  You thought because Ace was going with you, you couldn’t lose.  But you did.  And now you have to pay up.”

I lowered my gaze to his boots.  They were dirty workman’s boots which were so old that the leather on the toes had been worn away and the steel caps were showing through.  My stomach felt squeamish at the thought of putting my lips anywhere near them.

“Those things are filthy…” I said.

Vince stood from his sofa arm and took a couple of commanding steps closer to me.  “ _Feet_ Cassie.  You have to kiss my _feet_.  That means lips on skin.”

“Eww!”

“Get on your knees and do it.”

I stared down at his boots.  I couldn’t see a way out of it – I was sure he would hound me about it day and night, even embarrassing me in front of the other guys for as long as it took to make me succumb.

“Alright.  Take off your boots.”  My face twisted in revulsion at hearing myself agree to it.

“You take ‘em off.”

“I’m not touching those things.”

“You’ll do whatever I say, however I say to do it.”

“Don’t push it, Vince.  Now, take off your boots.”

Vince could barely contain himself as he grasped the heel of each boot and pulled them off to reveal two sweaty socks.

“Oh man… that stinks!” I said squinting through the stench that was burning my eyes.

He then peeled off his socks only to increase the stench to barfing level.

I dry retched, strapping my hand over my mouth and holding my nose.  “Jesus, don’t you wash?” I mumbled under my hand.

“Course I do.  Stop over exaggerating and do it.”

I wasn’t over exaggerating.  That guy has serious toe jam.  I kept the bridge of my nose pinched and got down on my knees in front of him.

“Come on Cassie, kiss ‘em.  And remember, it’s _feet_ – plural.  And I don’t mind if you wanna use tongue.”

My stomach heaved as I dry retched again, doing my best to keep my two shots down.

“This is so disgusting…” I bent forwards, trying to ignore the sight of his hairy ankles and toes and all the protruding veins.  Why do some guys have such ugly feet?  I finally decided that the quicker I did it, the faster I could run outside for some air.

I promptly pecked the ridge of each sweaty foot and then bolted to the kitchen sink to wash my mouth out with soap.

Vince erupted with laughter, holding his stomach in hysterics.  “That was fucking classic, Cass.  Damn, we should do this every week!”

My cheeks boiled from humiliation.  “Don’t you dare tell anyone about this,” I said before wiping my mouth dry with the shoulder of my shirt.

Vince tried to compose himself and wiped the tears from his eyes.  “Yeah, I can keep it quiet.  But it’ll cost you.”

“What!?”

“Cass, I’m an opportunist.  And if you want my silence, you gotta pay for it.”

“Opportunist?  Or obnoxious asshole?”

“You should probably keep your insults to yourself or word might start to get around faster than-”

“Alight, fine.  How much do you want?”

Vince gave me a smile so sly it was almost evil.  “Hmm… you know, I might just think about it for a while.  How about this: whenever I want something, I’ll ask.  That’ll work, right?”

I gaped at him in sheer outrage.  I couldn’t believe him.  I wanted to slap him.  I wanted to raise my hand and swat it so hard across his face he’d have my red hand print stamped on the side of his cheek for a week.  But I restrained myself in fear of making matters worse.

As Vince put his boots back on, I went out the front door and let it lock behind me.  It sure was a relief to be breathing clean, fresh air again.  The walk home would be a long one, but I couldn’t bear to stay there.  So, I sucked it up, put my head down and started putting one foot in front of the other.

I made it down the road a little before Vince’s Studebaker sped through the gate and after me.  He slowed to roll alongside me and leaned out his window.

“Damn, Cassie – you’re gonna walk back?”

“Yeah… I have to get home somehow.”

“But if someone sees you they’ll wanna know where you came from and what you’re doin’ all the way out here.”

“It’s nearly two in the morning.  How ‘bout we double all bets that I don’t see a single soul?”

“Look… get in the car.”

“No thanks.  How do I know you won’t drive me out further and dump me somewhere?”

“I won’t, alright?  I’ll take you home.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him.  “I don’t believe you.” 

“Just get in the car,” he said firmly.  “We can’t risk being found out here.”

I huffed in annoyance because I knew he was right.

“Hurry up!”

“OK, OK…” I said before running around to the passenger’s side.

We drove into town, glancing in at Irby’s which was just closing up for the night.  To get to my place, you continued for a quarter mile down Main Street and then took a right turn, but Vince took an immediate left.

“Hey, where are you going?  You said you’d take me home.”

“Yeah…” he said snidely.  We soon pulled into Vince’s gravel driveway, and he parked up next to his house.  “I’m home.”

I did slam the car door… but I wasn’t that annoyed.  I was coming to expect that sort of thing from Vince.  Just like I should have expected Ace to do what he did.  Bloody Eyeball.  I made a mental note never to trust anything he says ever again.

It was then that I realized I was in close proximity to a certain someone whom I owed a date.  It was two in the morning… but I had a feeling that my chances of him still being up on a Friday night were pretty good.


	17. Defiance

I wasn’t waiting long before Keith’s back door opened a crack.  He cautiously peered out for a moment before realizing who his visitor was.

“Cassie,” he said, swinging the door open wide.  “Well, ain’t this a nice surprise?”

“Um… hi,” I stammered, shaking myself out of the trance that the sudden sight of him had put me in.  He was wearing a dark gray T-shirt which was very fitting against his chest and solid arms.  “I know it’s late…”

“Not at all.  Come on in, babe.”

The door clicked closed, and I got butterflies when I felt his hand press against the small of my back to lead me over to his living room.

“Take a seat,” he said, gesturing at one of his plush, suede-like sofas.

I sat down on one of the two sofas which faced each other with the beautiful, wooden coffee table between them.  I gazed around and once again admired the rustic styling and cozy feel to the place.

There was a quart bottle of whiskey on his coffee table as well as a few used glasses which he began to stack up.  “Sorry ‘bout the mess,” he said.  “Just had a few buddies ‘round.  Good thing they didn’t see you or they never would have left.”  He flashed me a smile and I blushed.

As he walked away towards the kitchen with his glasses, I impishly bit my lip as I let my gaze fall below his belt.

He grabbed a couple of clean glasses from a kitchen cupboard and brought them over and then sat on the edge of the sofa opposite me and spun the top off the whiskey bottle to pour us both a glass.

“I heard about the lady at the diner.  That must’ve been hard.”

“Yeah…”

“I was wondering if I’d see you again.  Ace didn’t seem too happy about me wanting to take you out…”

“I’m so sorry about that.  I’ve been meaning to stop by and apologize.”

“Don’t sweat it,” he shrugged.  “I know what Ace is like.  I think he’s taken a shine to you.”

“No.  No way.  He’s… quite happy with someone else.”

“Could’ve fooled me.  I ran into him the other day and he told me he didn’t want me going near you.”

“Yeah… he sort of told me the same thing.”

“But you’re here anyway?”

“I felt like breaking the rules a little…”

Keith smirked and his eyes roamed over me.  “So, am I gonna get these secret visits often?”

“Maybe…”

He gave me a dead sexy grin with a bit of the eye as he sipped his drink and I couldn’t help smiling back.  We sat in silence for a moment and then he said, “Look, I ain’t gonna pretend I don’t know some of what’s going on.  You’ve got money problems, haven’t you?”

“What… how did you know?”

“Chris said you had some problems and asked Ace for help, and Ace ain’t good for much unless it’s money related.”

“Oh…” I said, swirling my drink in my glass.  “So, you and Chris have been talking, huh?”

“You haven’t seen him in a while.”

“I think he hates me.”

“Nah, he doesn’t hate you.  You’re like the big sister he never had.  I understand you gotta deal with Ace to get you through whatever shit you’re in, but it’s hard for Chris to accept.”

I had been missing Chris a lot lately.  I wondered if I should visit him and try to assure him that I was on his side.  I grabbed my glass and tossed back the rest of the straight whiskey with a wince.

“You look like you need something to take your mind off things,” Keith grinned.

My heart did a double-thump.  “Umm… like what?”

He laughed and got up to walk over to his cherry sunburst Les Paul which was resting against a small practice amp.  He wrapped his hand around the neck and threw the strap over his head before switching the amp on.

I didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or relieved.

“The beauty of music, Cass, is that no matter where you are, no matter how down you’re feeling, it can take you away.  Especially when you’re playing it.”  He took a knee in front of the amp and did a few cool little trills as he adjusted the volume.  “Can’t have it too loud at this time of night,” he said as his pinky rapidly hammered on and off the strings as natural as breathing.

Then finally, he stood.  The guitar cried out in both pleasure and pain as he bent the strings to their limit, sending a spine-shivering wail through the room. His fingers flew over the fret board, becoming a blur of sun-kissed skin over dark stained maple, and I stood bug-eyed as a multitude of notes were sent to my ears, too fast to see, too quick to comprehend. After a few bars of his intro, he fell into chord form and began to strum, adding little trills as fillers to beef up each note.

And then he opened his mouth… and his husky voice fell softly upon my ears.

_“She’s somewhere out there walkin’, and I can feel her cry._

_The strength of her tears, makes me die a bit inside._

_She didn’t want to leave me,_

_I told her not to go._

_But you know…”_

He cracked into a gut-wrenching solo that was so emotional my throat felt raw. After about five amazing minutes of his off-the-cuff meander across the fretboard, he settled back down into his rhythm section.

_“So now, she’s gone, forever…_

_Never comin’ home… ever.”_

Then he ripped into a bridge that almost brought tears to my eyes.  His pinky finished with one final trill which faded into the distance, leaving me staring at him in awe and amazement.  He tossed the strap over his head and returned the guitar to its stand before switching off the amp.

All I could do was stand, raise my hands and clap.

“Yeah, that’s the usual reaction,” he said, flopping down onto the sofa.

“Are you gonna tell me who was that about?”

He refilled his glass before taking a decent swig.  “My sister.  Been missing her a lot lately.”

“Where is she?”

Keith gave me a slow shrug.  “I dunno.  Nobody knows.  Which is just the way she wanted it.”

I looked at the floor at my feet, not knowing what to say.

“Sorry, Cass.  I didn’t mean to play one like that.  But sometimes songs just fall out and I gotta roll with it.”

“You mean, all of that just came to you as you were playing it?  The words and everything?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged like it was nothing to him.   “Look, why don’t you come around tomorrow night?  We’ll have some proper fun.  Maybe… we could even call it a date?”

“Here?”

“Why not?”

“Alright.  It’ll have to be late though.  I can’t risk-”

“I rarely go to bed before 5.  I’ll be up.”

\---

The train was right on time.  It was nerve wracking getting up into that thing - sliding the huge side door of the container open just a little, climbing up and in and then settling down behind some big boxes of some kind of cargo.  I stayed nestled there for about 20 minutes before I heard the engine whistle blow, and then the heavy piece of steam-powered machinery got moving at exactly 10 pm.

Once we were doing a few miles per hour, I dared to open my sliding door just a little and sat cross-legged on the edge to look out at the moonlit countryside.

There was supposed to be a bridge along the way that lay crossroads to the main road into Lewiston.  I kept an eye out for it.  I had studied the map of the area well, and this bridge would mean we were exactly three miles from Lewiston cargo station.  But things always look different in reality, and when we crossed over, it was dark with no street lights or signs telling me I had the right one.  After some hesitation, I took a leap of faith and tossed my gas canister overboard.  It landed right down deep in the grassy gutter well hidden from anyone driving by.

The whistle blew again, and I held on tight as the brakes came on and slowed the train to a stop.  I could hear distant voices, but there was certainly nobody all the way down my end of the train, and so I quickly slid over the edge and onto land, quietly closing the big sliding door behind me.

This cargo station was in the center of an industrial area that did not have an ample selection of cars that were up to spec.  There were lots of old pickup trucks, dump trucks and even a couple of tractors.  I chuckled to myself for a moment as I thought about driving to Ace’s in a tractor.  Definitely couldn’t outrun the cops in one of those.  Hell, they’d be able to chase me on foot.  Eventually, I resigned to the fact that I would have to walk ten miles into town.  I began to contemplate bringing my bike with me next time rather than leaving it at the train station.

Two miles into the journey, I saw an old country pub, still open with a small selection outside.  Everyone was inside drinking and no one was watching their rides.

I didn’t even bother to sneak.  I just waltzed up to the first car I laid eyes on, opened the unlocked door, hopped in and found the keys still in the ignition.  I couldn’t believe it.  Maybe this was one of those small country towns, population one hundred, where everyone feels so safe and secure because nothing bad ever happens in their tight-knit community.

Well, I was about to change all of that.

It was some kind of late model Oldsmobile.  Nothing in comparison to my last steal, but I didn’t have Vince around, encouraging me to be competitive.  I slowly drove it out of the parking lot, trying to be as quiet on the gravel as possible.  After checking my mirrors to make sure there was no angry folk chasing me with raised fists, I headed for the bridge to pick up my canister.  My car badly needed a drink, and so I gave it every last drop before driving back to the Castle Rock cargo station to pick up my new wheels.

Earlier that day, I bought myself a bicycle.  It wasn’t much to look at – it was a rickety old thing and the paint was peeling off, but it was a good ride and had a good set of non-squealy brakes.  I picked it up from its hiding place in the bushes at the train station, tossed it in the back seat of my car and smiled.

\---

It was a little after 12.30 am when I pulled up to the garage.  The big double doors were open and I drove straight in.  I got out of the car and gazed around the workshop.  The red beast was still there along with Vince’s Dodge and another car which I assumed was from Eyeball, but all the plates had been removed, and Eyeball’s was up on blocks with its engine hanging on a hoist.

“So.  That’s where you were tonight,” Ace said, making me jump.  He came out of nowhere, wiping his greasy black hands on a white cloth that looked like it used to be a T-shirt.  “We waited for you.”

“Well, don’t bother from now on.”

“What is this, Cass?  You don’t wanna ride with us?”

“I can get myself around just fine.”  I tossed him the keys, and he caught them and smirked.  I opened the back door of the car and began to get my bicycle out.  It took some effort, but I finally got the pedal loose from the seat and it came out after a hard yank.

“What the fuck is that heap of shit?” he laughed.

“Laugh all you want.  It’s actually a good bike.  Smooth, silent and costs me nothin’ to run.”  I ignored Ace’s mocking expression and threw my backpack over one shoulder.

“Vince told me what happened last night,” he said.

My stomach twisted as a fresh memory of the stench-ridden sasquatches Vince keeps in his shoes flashed before my eyes.  “What did he um… what did he say?”

“That you ran outta gas.”

“Oh…” I blushed, embarrassed and yet relieved that that was all he had heard.

“I shoulda warned you ‘bout that.”

“I won’t pretend that I didn’t blame you for it.  But it’s over and taken care of.  And I’ll never make the same mistake twice.”

“You don’t want me to take you out after all?”

“No, I can handle it on my own.”

He smiled with a soft laugh, those stony blues of his lingering on me.  “Yeah, I bet you can.”

We heard a car burning it up the dirt driveway, and I decided to make tracks in case it was Vince.  I got my backpack on properly and rode off only to be met by the hood of Vince’s latest steal before I even made it out of the garage.  I edged around the side of the car, being forced to pass his window to get out.

“Hey, O’Connor,” he said with a cruel smile.  “You know, my feet are killing me today.  I could really do with a foot massage-”

I shot out into the open and pedaled like my life depended on it.  It was pitch black, and so I had to steer by memory, not knowing if I was about to ride straight into a tree or a fence, but I wasn’t slowing down for anything.

\---

I arrived on Keith’s doorstep just after three.  He opened the door and beamed at me, wearing a blue collared shirt with his sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

“Sorry… I’m a bit later than I thought I’d be.”

“Told you it didn’t matter,” he grinned.  “Come on in.”

He led me into his living room and offered me a seat on _his_ sofa - not the opposite sofa where I usually sat – and sat down next to me.  He had soft jazz playing in the background, and it was relaxing just to listen for a moment.

“How’s your night been?” he asked.

“Fine.  How’s yours?”

“Fine,” he shrugged.  “Had Eyeball around for an hour or so.”

“Oh really?”  It made me curious since I thought Eyeball would have gone out with Ace to bring a car in.  “What time?”

“Just after midnight.  So, Ace put you on another run, huh?”

“Sorry?”

“He’s got a thing for you,” he said admittingly.  “That’s why he’s been sending Eyeball around here.”

“Wait… Eyeball’s been running for Ace?”

“Yeah, for weeks.”

I let out an exasperated breath.  “This is supposed to be my run.  Ace promised it to me.  I just thought, for some reason, that you hadn’t been… shit.”

“He has given you other runs though, right?  Or else… how are you paying your way?”

My heart started to beat harder.  I was sure Keith was suspicious something was going on.  Apart from all the probing questions, I could see it in his eyes.  “Oh… yeah… of course.”   I winced as the lie came out, especially since the suspicion in his eyes had never faltered – he looked like he didn’t believe a word of it.

“Anyway,” Keith said.  “We’re supposed to be on a date so… you wanna drink?”

“OK, but, can I borrow your bathroom first?”

After much deliberation, I decided to put it on.  My buttercup yellow Harley dress.  My mother always told me I suited yellow well; it goes with my olivish skin tone and brunette hair which hadn’t been cut for a while and was hanging down the middle of my back.  I stared at my reflection in Keith’s little bathroom mirror, unable to see much past my shoulders but enough to know that it would earn me a reaction.  I began to question if I was doing the right thing by leading Keith on but I could hardly turn back now.

Keith was standing in his kitchen pouring us some shots.  He was in mid pour when he laid eyes on me, and he flooded the glass, making a small puddle on the bench.  “Damn…”

“I’ve never worn jeans and a T-shirt on a date, so…”

“You look gorgeous,” he grinned, his eyes lingering for a moment.  He picked up one of the shots and held it high.  “Grab a glass and let’s have a good night.”

I took a glass and smiled as I tapped it against his before downing it.

“Hey… I can smell… is that… pizza?” I said, sniffing the air.

“Yeah… I got my buddy from Chamberlain to bring some over,” he said, gesturing at his oven.  “It’s about six hours old and reheated, but it’ll still taste great, I’m sure.”

“I wouldn’t care if it was yesterdays and cold.  I’m starving.”

We ate and talked and drank through the night.  Conversation flowed easily between us.  Just like with Chris, Keith and I never ran out of things to talk about.  Once the pizza had been devoured, the guitar came out and he showed me more of his impressive and seemingly limitless talent.  Even when he wasn’t ‘playing’ as such, he’d have it sitting on his lap while he mindlessly toyed with the strings.

I learned that his main influences were Blues and Rock ‘n Roll artists like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis, and in my opinion, he was just as good as any of them. He wanted to give me a lesson and sat the weighty thing on my lap, pulled me in snug to him and told me that the first thing you should learn is how to finger pick.  E G B E, up and down, up and down on the open strings.  It doesn’t sound like much fun, but I had a great time trying to master the technique.  He then taught me a few chords - D major, an A and a G – and positioned my fingers wherever they needed to be.  When I applied my new found picking skills to the chords it sounded pretty good; I was getting the hang of this guitar thing.  Although, my soft fingertips were getting sore by now, and so I gave it back to him and spent a while longer watching him in amazement.

“You must be getting so bored of watching me play,” he said after some time.

“Not at all,” I said sleepily, leaning back on the sofa with a soft cushion.

Keith laughed and set the guitar down on its stand.  “Come here, I wanna show you something.”

He had a turntable which sat on top of a big double door cabinet.  We knelt before it, and he opened the doors.

“Feast your eyes.”

There must’ve been three hundred records under there, all vertically stacked in their thin covers and alphabetically categorized with dividers.  I tilted my head as I scanned the mass.  He had everything from Robert Johnson to Ray Charles.  Muddy Waters to Ritchie Valens.  Ella Fitzgerald to Elvis.

“Wow… that is some collection.  Impressive.”

“So, what do you like?”

“I think I’ll have to go with this.”  I pulled one from the stack and handed it to him.

“Buddy Holly,” he said solemnly as he the read the label, _The Crickets._   “It’s been over a year now, and it’s still hard to believe he’s gone.”  He stood and pulled the record from its sleeve and gave it a slick spin between his palms before setting it down on the turntable.  The little needle bobbed as the tune began to play.

_It’s so easy to fall in love,_

_It’s so easy to fall in love._

I started moving my head to the music when Keith unexpectedly took my hand and pulled me up and into him.  “I’m feelin’ good enough to dance – how ‘bout you?”

“Well, OK!”

_People tell me love is for fools,_

_So here I go, breaking all of the rules._

He sure knew how to lead a girl on the floor.  I let myself go as I was twirled, twisted and tossed around the room without a thought to what I was doing.  Keith was a natural and took the lead with that casualness about him as if there was nothin’ to it.  I was rolled out to arm’s length and back in again, and he lifted me up into the air and spun me around with me giggling for him to put me down again.  He finally let up and set me down, giving me a few finishing twirls.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that!”

“Sometimes I can be persuaded,” he said, giving me a wink.  “So, did I give you a good night like I promised?”

“You’re a man of your word.  It was a lot of fun.  Thank you.”

He rolled me in again with a flick of his wrist and held me there, tucked up in his arms.  “Is there anything I could do to top it off?”

Nerves were rolling around in my stomach like never before.  “Maybe…” I muttered.

A sly smile peeked out as his eyes flicked to my mouth, and the feel of his firm lips on mine dazzled me.  I felt his fingers slip up through my hair and his mouth engulfed mine.  I stood there listlessly, following his lead and thinking about how long it had been since the last time anyone held me like that and how much I missed it.  The warmth of his body, the softness of his chest and the firmness of his embrace had me a smitten kitten.  It didn’t take long for him to get more daring and determined, and his kisses ventured around to the tender spot under my ear and down my neck.  I soon found myself being led backward a few steps, and I walked into the sofa and tripped up, falling back onto the cushions.  Keith went down with me, his large frame looming over as he persisted in smothering me with attention.

But Ace's warning was finally starting to sink in.  The more I let Keith into my life, the less I could hide from him.  And the more I would have to lie to him.  I didn't want that at all.

I pushed at his chest, and he pulled back to gaze at me with heavy eyes.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that either,” I said, a bit breathless.  “You’re full of surprises.”

He gave a soft laugh.  “Too much?”

“I want to.  Believe me, I do.  But… I’m not even supposed to be here.  Keith, if Ace finds out about us, I’m done for.”

“Baby, if you wanna keep us a secret, I’m cool with that.  I won’t tell nobody.”  He went in for another kiss and I felt his warm hand on my knee.  His fingers slipped under the hem of my dress, and I stiffened when they started to skim up my inner thigh.  I wanted to go with it.  To surrender to it.  But there was just no way this was happening.

I gently pushed him away and looked regretfully into his striking blue eyes.  “You don’t understand.  You and me being together, it would complicate things.”

“Why?” he asked.  I noticed those eyes were now filled with suspicion.

“Because… I can’t say.”

“Has Ace got you hiding something from me?”

“Umm… no…”

“You know how long I’ve known that kid?  I’ve been involved in all sorts of deals and schemes with him, and I know how he works.  And this – this is classic ‘Ace is up to no good’.  So, what’s he got you doin’ for him?”

“I think I’d better go.”  I slid out from underneath him and went to leave, but I felt like I owed him a big apology.  “I’m sorry I led you down the garden path.  I just couldn’t help myself.  I didn’t expect things to… move so quickly.  But I’ve put myself in a bad position; I know I have.”

Keith blew out a deep breath.  “Hey, it’s OK,” he said, and he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.  Doesn’t mean it’s over for good right?”

“I hope it’s not.  Because damn… you can really dance.”

We shared a grin and he pulled me in for one last kiss, and I let myself indulge in the moment.


	18. Fuel Fire Desire

The next week was a lonely one.  I couldn’t see Keith or Chris, and I avoided Ace as much as possible.  Life had never been so dull.  The next Friday night I was so bored out of my mind that I felt like I was going to go crazy if I didn’t get out and do something.  So, I decided to try my luck at Irby’s, just to see if Joe would let me shoot some pool.

The place was packed out as usual – but for such a small place, it didn’t take much.  I stood at the door, scanning the room to see who was around.  I couldn’t see Ace, but Billy and Charlie were admist the crowd, and I did consider hanging out with them for the night… but then I noticed who was sitting on the other side of the room.  Keith was there.  And he had his arm around a girl.  She was cute, and her blonde hair fell around her shoulders in loose curls.  The two looked like a perfect couple, grinning and joking with each other as they were locked into their own private conversation like the rest of the world didn’t exist.

I made a quick exit and stood on the sidewalk with my heart palpating.  I was stunned.  Disappointed.  And of course, jealous.  The fact that it was my decision and my fault didn’t make it any easier to accept.  Part of me voiced that I couldn’t have expected him to wait for me, but another part had expected him to.

I took in a good lungful of night air and then wondered what I should do next.  I dreaded going back to that empty and lonely place I called home.  I wondered what Ace was doing right then.  He’d be doing something fun – that I was sure of.

I walked a block up the street when a rowdy bunch of hooligans rolled past me in a patchy grey, 1949 Ford Custom convertible, whistling and jokingly catcalling me.  I smirked.  Yep, it looked like Ace and his boys were having a good time.

I stood and watched as they parked up on the side of the street right outside Irby’s, and the blaring radio cut out.  Eyeball, Vince, Fuzzy and Jack spilled out over the sides of the vehicle and headed into the bar while Ace got out and leaned against the front fender of his car.

“Where you goin’, Cass?” he called out.

I instinctively started walking towards him, my belly rolling with nerves.  I had done my best to avoid him, but I had also missed him in a way that I couldn’t quite explain.

“Just… home,” I said when I reached him.

“You look down, what’s the problem?”

“I’m just bored out of my mind.”

“You wanna come in, shoot some pool?”

“I would but, no thanks.”

“I’ll promise to go easy on you.”  He took my hand and went to drag me inside, but I dug my heels in.

“No, Ace – I’m not going in there.”

He quirked an eyebrow and then opened the door and stuck his head in.  He looked around for a moment and then came back out to me with a grin.  “Chambers got a new girl, huh?”

I’m sure I went fire-engine red, and I couldn’t look him in the eyes.  Little did he know about me and Keith, and I wanted to keep it that way.

“So, you’re gonna go home?”

“I don’t want to.  I dunno,” I shrugged.  “Would you… take another car?”  Of course, I spoke as quietly as I could, considering where we were.

“You wanna go out boosting cars just ‘cause you’re bored?  Fuck, whatever happened to grandma?”

I chuckled.  “Well, I have always told you, I’m no stiff.”

Ace eyed me for a moment in thought.  “You wanna have some real fun tonight?  Maybe make some extra cash at the same time?”

I was surprised that he wanted to hang out with me for the night instead of all of his buddies, but if meant not spending another night being bored by myself, I would roll with it.  “What did you have in mind?”

\----

Ace had moved his ’38 Dodge pickup from his place to a secure garage off to the side of the workshop.  He turned the lights on and the deep purple beauty appeared before my eyes in its full glory.  I ran my fingers down its side, and they glided like it had been painted with fine silk.  I couldn’t stop staring.  I admired every detail from the curvature of the rear fenders to the white leather interior, to the grill and cute round headlights out front.  I asked him if it was legal, unlike the Lincoln that he previously had, and he said it was and that he had papers and everything.

He lifted one side of the hood, and we both looked down at the engine which was pristine clean.  “It’s got triple carbies, I put in an alcohol system and it runs on nitro,” he said.

“Nitro?”

“You add some of that to your fuel, and your 200 horsepower engine will run like a 300.”

“What kind of speeds can you get?”

“I’ve had it up to 140 myself on the ¼ mile, which ain’t bad since the top fuel dragsters are doin’ 160-200.”

“So, when do I get to drive?” I smiled eagerly.

He smirked and messed my hair good.

We rolled out and headed towards Lewiston-Auburn.  I was happy to relax back on the passenger’s side and feel the engine rumbling in my chest.  I closed my eyes and listened to the constant chugging rhythm with the little pops and thumps giving it that extra liveliness.  And when Ace put his foot right down on the gas, boy she roared.  That thing growled.  It had bite.  It startled me every time he did it because, damn, it was loud.  It made my ears ring.  We had to yell at each other to talk even when he was doing 70, and we couldn’t hear each other at all if he was flooring it down a straight, of which there were plenty.  He got it up to 120mph at one point; we zipped through the moonless night with our headlights lighting the way ahead and they were only just keeping up.

I kept stealing little glances to my left.  I tried not to, but I couldn’t help it.  Damn, he suited that pickup.  At one point he glanced over at me as well, and we just looked at each other and he grinned.

“You ready for this?” he asked.

“All I can do is try.”

\---

“It’s just up here,” Ace yelled over the engine noise.

We were about ten miles from Lewiston when he veered off onto a side road and then drove deeper into the countryside.  We could soon see lots of lights in the distance, and as we got closer, I realized they were headlights and that there was a gathering happening right there on the side of the highway.

There was a large section of gravel off to the left where most of the cars were parked, and teen guys and girls alike were everywhere, mingling with the crowd and going car to car to check out each other’s rides.  There were some beauties about, and I couldn’t help thinking that they would make nice additions to my list of catches for the week.

Ace pulled into the center of the crowd and turned off the engine, and heads turned to see who’d just arrived.

“Most people ‘round here have deep pockets,” Ace said.  “Fuck, some have bottomless pits.”

We both got out of the car, but I just casually hung on the door while Ace met up with a few people that seemed to know him.

“Hey, pal,” one of the guys said, slapping Ace’s hand.  “Haven’t seen you around for a while.”

“But you know I’ll always be back,” Ace smirked.

Their voices were suddenly overpowered by the sounds of engines being revved to the hilt about 50 yards down the road. I stood up on the runner of Ace's Dodge to get a better view, and I could see them sitting on an invisible starting line, side by side, both facing down the road. The light of a small torch blinked on and the wheels of the cars screeched as their owners floored it. All I could smell was gasoline and burnt rubber, and my ears were filled with the high-pitched screams of the cars tearing down the highway before they faded into the distance.

“Well, go around to everyone and fuckin’ ask!” Ace yelled at the guy.  I guessed this friendly reunion had taken a nasty turn.

“What’s going on?” I asked Ace, catching up to him.  “No one wants to race you?”

“Just like I said.”

“And… he is?”

“Let’s just call him, ‘the bookie’.”

“Right.”

The guy looked like he was doing as he was told, walking into each little group and striking up conversations with them.  People would look over at Ace and his ride and shake their heads, and then the guy would move onto the next group.  Ace got visibly more frustrated every time he was turned down.

“Goddamn it…” he muttered.  He threw his cigarette to the ground and crunched it into the gravel with his boot.  “What the fuck are you all here for, huh?”  His voice resonated through the thin night air as he spoke, and every head in the crowd that wasn’t already staring at us turned our way.  Ace reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of notes.  “Two hundred bucks to race me.  Who’s got the balls?”

Nobody moved.

“Pack of gutless fucking assholes.  This place has turned to bullshit!”

“It’s like I told you six months ago, Ace,” the bookie said, returning to us.  “No one wants to race you no more ‘cos everyone knows there ain’t no chance of beating you.”

“Yeah, we all know who you are,” one guy spoke up.  “And there’s no way in the world that any one of us is stupid enough to bet against you!”

“OK.  OK,” Ace nodded as if he was finally accepting that it just wasn’t gonna happen.  “Then what about her?” he tilted his head at me.

The eyes of the entire crowd were suddenly on me, and I cowered back a little.  Some people laughed.  Some of them gave me the, “you can’t be serious” stare.  But a lot of them raised their hands.

“Oh, did I mention the stakes are higher for her?” Ace said.  “Two grand.  Right here.”  He pulled out another roll of cash, significantly thicker than the first, and waved it in the air.

“Two grand?” I slurred.

“I’ll race her,” somebody said.

I looked over at the guy who spoke; some well-dressed rich kid who was sitting on the hood of his Chevy, ogling and smiling at me.  I scrunched up my nose at him in disgust.

“Two grand,” Ace reinforced.

When I saw the guy who agreed to race start counting out his cash to hand to the bookie, that’s when it got real.  A couple hundred bucks was one thing, but laying thousands on the line made my stomach do loops.  I grabbed Ace by the collar and pulled him close to me.  “This is too much!  You’ve gotta back down!”

“You really think I came all this way to make a couple hundred measly bucks?”

“Umm… Yes!  You are considering the very likely possibility that I’ll lose, right?”

“You got the cash, Ace?” the bookie asked.

Ace took the fatter wad from his pocket and slapped in the bookie’s hand.

“Holy shit,” I said.  I had the major jitters and I couldn’t stand still.

“Just forget about the money and focus.  It’s just like I told you before – I’ve never lost a race, sure, but neither has this truck.  Now, get in.”

I managed a nod, but Ace’s little pep talk hadn’t made me feel any calmer.  I climbed into the driver’s seat feeling like I needed to throw up.  “Get a grip,” I told myself.  “You can do this.  You have to do this.”

I fired the engine, and it roared to life.  God, I loved that sound.  I closed my eyes and focused on it – that constant, rhythmic chugging with the little pops and thumps.

“Back it up, babe,” Ace said to me through the window.

I opened my eyes again and found myself still feeling nervous but settled.  I backed it out of the section of gravel and onto the road.  One guy waved me forward, and I made sure I claimed the right-hand lane.  It was 3 am, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible for someone to unexpectedly drive up the road mid-race.  The other guy was yet to roll out, and so I decided to warm up my wheels like Ace had suggested to me earlier.

I’d only had an hour with him, but I’d been taught by the best.

After three warmup starts, I was rearing to go.  The truck was rearing to go.  I could feel it getting more and more frustrated with me every time I put the brakes on and rolled it back.  I looked across at the other guy who was sitting alongside me now, and he tipped his imaginary hat and smiled.

“You good to go?” Ace yelled at me at my window side and I nodded.  “Just do what I taught you, right?  When that light goes on, you just fucking floor it.  Up through the gears as fast as you can and keep it straight.  Really fucking straight.  You got it?”

I nodded again.

“Bring us home the cash, baby.”  He leaned in through the window and pecked me on the cheek, but I was so jazzed and pumped and ready to go that I barely noticed.

I wound up the window so it wouldn’t create any drag, and some chick in a poodle skirt with a torch walked over to stand right in the middle of the road in front of us.

The wait for her to turn it on was painful, but when I saw the little light I hit the gas, and my wheels spun for a moment before finding their grip and launching me into the night.  It took off like an excited dog being let off its chain.  It just kept getting faster and faster like there was no limit to the speed it could do, and it held as steady as a surgeon’s hand.  I never looked across to see how the other guy was doing until it seemed like we’d been racing for a while, and I was sure a quarter mile was supposed to be over in a matter of seconds.  They had people at the other end of the strip to judge the winner but I’d concentrating so hard that I didn’t see anyone.  So I kept going a few seconds longer… until I noticed flashing red lights in the distance.  Lots of them.

“Shit…”

I hit the brakes and spun the truck around and shot back in the opposite direction as just as fast as I’d raced.  I got back to the crowd and Ace was waiting for me with the biggest grin I’d ever seen on him, but I was so shaken by what was coming up behind me that I didn’t register why.

“Ace, get in!  We’ve got company!”

I scooted over to the passenger’s side, and Ace looked back down the road before hastily jumping into the driver’s seat.

“They’re comin’ up fast,” he said, before putting his foot down.

The problem was, by now everyone else had realized what was happening, and 40 or so cars were scattering like a flock of ducks after hearing a shotgun.  Everyone was fleeing out of the section of gravel on the side, and because we were on the road, our way forward was blocked.  Ace leaned on the horn and yelled out various obscenities and soon forced his way forward, getting a little nip on the front fender from somebody’s tail.

I thought I counted about six cop cars behind us, and some of them had already started writing tickets.  We got out to the main road, and everyone else was turning left to Lewiston and so we could freely go right towards home.  We got a fair way down the road and couldn’t see anyone following us, and I finally felt I could breathe easy.

“That was close,” I said, stating the obvious.  “What would they’ve done if they caught you there?”

“Fine.  Couple nights in the cooler.  Impound the truck.  Whatever they wanted to.  But the worst thing would be…”  A massive grin arose as he pulled out four rolls of cash as thick as my wrist and dumped them on a spare bit of bench seat between us.  “Losing that.”

“Oh, my… how much?”

“It’s eight grand.”

“You brought all of that with you tonight?  Are you nuts?”

“No, I brought four and I won four.”

“But…”

“You fuckin’ won that race, Cass.  You kicked his ass.”

I just blinked at him – it was too much to comprehend.  “But… you only bet two.”

“Two against the guy racing you, but there were a bunch of people in the parking lot who wanted to get in on the action.  Thought they could make a quick buck,” he smirked.

“So… we made four grand tonight?”

“Two for you, two for me, baby.”

I leaped from my seat and squealed with joy.  “Oh my… I can’t believe we did that!”

“You wanna go out and celebrate?”

“It’s 4 am,” I chuckled.

“So?  I’ll grab a bottle from home and we’ll go up to the view or something,” he shrugged.

Little nerves started swimming around in my stomach.

“Can you hear that?” I asked.  I swore I could hear some high-pitched whining noise over the engine.

“Shit…” Ace said, looking in his rearview mirror.  “Where the fuck did he come from?”

I turned around to see red lights coming up fast behind us.

“Oh, shit!  Where can we hide the money?”

“Tuck it in the glove box.”

I did as he said and noticed that he wasn’t slowing down.  He kept glancing in the rearview mirror, and he got this serious look of concentration on his face like he was about to pick a fight.

“You are gonna pull over, aren’t you?” I asked.

“He’s driving a shitheap and we’re in a hotrod.  Grab hold of something.”

Knowing there was no chance of talking him out of it – and I wasn’t sure I wanted to anyway – I grabbed the door with one hand and the seat with the other.  Ace tightened his grip on the wheel and slowly sunk his foot to the floor.  I noticed he was keeping it steady at around 90mph and I wondered why he wasn’t going for more.  A road was coming up with a big sign pointing to Motton, and Ace turned down it with the cop soon screaming after us.  It was then that Ace gunned it.  He slammed his foot down so hard we were thrown back in our seats.  The needle on the speed gauge surged past the 100mph mark, 120 and then 140, and the lights of the cop car slowly disappeared into the distance.

I saw a side road to our left come up, but I didn’t expect Ace to turn down it… let alone make it… let alone not roll it.  But that’s exactly what happened.  It was a dirt road, and we skidded into it at full speed, making me kiss the window as we went around and creating a dust storm in our wake.  We kept going down the dirt road and then took a right into another dirt road before braking and slowing down.  Ace pulled off the road, rolled down a short bank and parked behind a farm shed of some kind.  He quickly turned off the lights and engine, cloaking us in the darkness.

“Holy shit…” I panted.  “Do you think he saw the dust?”

Ace was already on his way out to check, and I followed him, heading back up the bank and onto the road.  We looked out over the dark farmlands and could just see the cop’s whirling red sirens in the distance as he was now well on his way to Motton.

“That was insane…” I said.

“Your first cop chase.  And you say I never give you a good time.”

I cracked a grin.  “I don’t think I’ve ever said that.”

Ace cracked a grin of his own and I could barely see his gaze lingering on me in the darkness.  Then he stepped closer and slid a hand around my neck, and I hardly had a second to be surprised before his lips were on mine.  There was a moment of gentleness, but his kiss quickly turned greedy and obsessive.  Ruthless and wild.  He didn’t just kiss, he devoured, and all I could do was let him consume me.  Because none of me could put up a fight.  I was too listless.  Helpless.  I was out of my mind.

He pulled away, and I drowsily opened my eyes to find him holding my head in his hands and staring at me with an amused grin.  My conscious was somewhere far in the distance, and I couldn’t connect with it.  It was like I’d suddenly gone stupid.  I tried to speak sense, but all I could do was stammer, “Oh God…”

He leaned in for another go, but I came to my senses and veered away from him.  “What are you doing?  You’ve got a girlfriend.”

“Don’t worry about that baby, I’m gonna break it off with her.”  He went to my neck, and the feeling of his stubble grazing my skin as he gently sucked at it pulled me into a trance.  It took every bit of willpower I had to pull myself back out of it.

“Ace, just stop for minute.  Please?”

He pulled back and looked at me.  “What is it?”

“This is all so sudden.”

“You didn’t see this coming?”

“I don’t know!  Maybe?  I never know what to think.  Last time I thought that maybe… but then you… I never know what you’re thinking.  What do you want from me?  A fling or a relationship?”

“All I want is you baby.”  He made another move as if he thought that were a prize-winning answer, and I placed a hand on his chest.

“If that’s really true then why did you choose her over me last time?”

“Your first boost?”

I nodded.

“Well, here’s a newsflash.  I had half a drink with her and then spent the rest of the night looking for you.”

I stared at him in astonishment.

“Looked for you everywhere but couldn’t find you.  By the time I got back to the garage, you’d been and gone.  By the way, the place fucking stunk.  Any idea why?”

My eyes went wide.  “No…”

“Even waited outside your house for an hour.  Where were you?  With Chambers?”

I winced at the question.  But I saw no point in lying.  “Yeah.  I went to see Keith.”

“Shit, Cass, I told you-”

“I know what you told me.  But I was so angry at you, and I was frustrated.  Look Ace, I’ve been down this road before and I’m not doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Being a guy’s ‘bit on the side’.”

“Baby, it’s not gonna be like that.”

“Words don’t mean anything.”

“So, I gotta ditch her first.”

“Yes, you do.  But… she isn’t the only problem.”

“Fuck, what else?” he asked, folding his arms.

“There’s the little matter of Chris.”

“Damn – why you gotta bring up that faggot?”

“Don’t call him that.  He’s my friend,” I said firmly.  “And if he ever needs me, I’m gonna be there for him.  I don’t expect you guys to get along, but both of you have gotta accept that each of you is in my life.”

“If you keep him out of my way, we won’t have a problem.  But the moment he so much as gets lippy to me, I’m hidin’ his ass.”

“I’ll be talking to him too.”

“You’d better.”

Ace came into me again, wrapping his arms around my waist.  “Fuck, maybe I shoulda gone with the fling,” he said, and we both laughed quietly.  “You got any more demands, Miss Bossy Pants?”

I thought another one of those hot and heavy kisses of his wasn’t too much to ask for.  I didn’t feel bad for Antonia – I didn’t even consider her.  She always ignored me and so I would ignore her.  But I was afraid of giving myself to Ace and then finding out that he couldn’t let her go.  Every second I was with him I had to remind myself not to get too emotionally involved.  Because that’s the mistake I made with James.


	19. Caged Bird

“Cass, get out to Ace’s, now!”

Vince never rings me.  I didn’t even know he had my phone number.  I was up early for once and relaxing on my back porch, enjoying an ice-cold coke on a hot afternoon when Vince rudely interrupted me.  He didn’t even bother to say hello.  He just threw his demands at me without even explaining _why_ I was expected to bike ten miles out to Ace’s in the blistering heat.

Even still… I grabbed my bike and peddled like mad all the way out to Ace’s place.  I sure wasn’t looking forward to seeing Ace, but Vince kindly reminded me that he had the dreaded ‘feet’ incident in his arsenal, and he could whip it out at any time it suited him.

I got there at around three, all hot and sweaty, to see a line of cars parked outside Ace’s.  There was the ’49 and Ace’s 32’ Ford pickup, Eyeball’s shitheap and Vince’s Studebaker.  It looked quite full out there and by now I was extremely curious about what was going on.  The front door was wide open, and I hung around outside a minute just to listen.  The house was filled with Vince’s voice battling with Eyeball’s drunken slur as the two were locked into some pointless argument, and I could hear a girl’s voice pitching in every now and then.  She talked quick – a rabbiting rabbit.  And I was quite sure I knew who she was.

“Oh, my word!  Cassie!”  Just as I stepped into the living room, the blonde’s sudden outburst killed off the guys’ bickering, and the room fell silent.

“Hi…” I said with a small smile, taking everyone in.

There were five of them sitting around on Ace’s collection of three sofas that were laid out in a U shape.  Carol was tucked up under Eyeball’s arm on the sofa closest to me,  Vince and another girl who I didn’t know were sitting a few inches apart on the middle one, and Ace was sitting alone on the other.  I told myself to stay cool around him, but when those sly blues hit me with a wolfish grin, I only felt more flustered.

“It’s Carol, right?” I asked, looking for an excuse to peel my eyes off Ace.

“Yeah!  How are you?” she asked, her eyes wide with enthusiasm.

“Oh, I’m… great.”  I looked down at Vince who was pouring a round of drinks and paying no attention to me like he hadn’t impatiently called me out there.

“Have you met Natalie?” Carol asked.  “Her family owns the Blue Point Diner now.  I heard you used to work there too!”

I looked at the dark-haired beauty who was sitting quietly next to Vince.  “Hi,” she said shyly.  Her big green doe eyes smiled at me just as kindly as her cute little mouth which was placed flawlessly between her plump cheeks.  She sure was pretty and she had a figure to be envied.  Not that you could see much of it with her loose-fitting, floral dress covering everything but her ankles.

So.  This was the girl who now had my job.  The girl whose family had literally ripped the guts out of my diner.

“I’ll… just be a minute.”  I shot off into the bathroom and locked it – mainly so Ace couldn’t get in if he tried – and splashed cool water over my face.  In fact, I essentially gave myself a sponge bath and then changed into the other clothes I had brought with me because I predicted how sweaty I would get biking all the way out there.  A light singlet and shorts were all I could stand to wear in that heat, and I ignored Ace’s stares as I took the seat next to him while mindfully keeping my distance.

“So…” I said to Natalie, and I cleared my throat.  “I see the Diner’s being renovated.”

“Yes,” she replied in a small voice.  “We’re modernizing it.  My parents have a vision of turning it into the most popular eatery in town.”

“Natalie’s family used to own a diner in Santa Cruz, so they know just what to do,” Carol chirped.  “It’s all so exciting!  They’re gonna have café tables and a milk bar and they might even change the name.  Isn’t that neato?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  “No, it’s not ‘neato’,” I spat.  “You can’t change the name, OK Natalie?  And by the way, the Blue Point Diner has _always_ been the most popular eatery in town.  It’s iconic.  It’s won interstate awards.  And if you change the name, you’ll lose everything that Rose and Violet worked so hard to build.”

“Oh...” Natalie muttered, looking more than shocked at my sudden outburst.  But I didn’t care if it made her feel uncomfortable.  What she felt couldn’t have possibly compared to what I was feeling.  I was ready to hit something.

“You moved from the beaches of Santa Cruz to this shithole?” Ace cut in.  “What the fuck for?”

Natalie’s face turned an even deeper shade of pink from what I had made it.  “Well,” she cleared her throat, “my parents wanted us children – that is, my twin brother and I – to get away from the bad influences of a big city and out into the fresh wholesome air of a small town.”

Everyone in the room, even Carol laughed.  Natalie couldn’t have found a worse group of influences to sit among if she tried.

“As long as your parents are thinkin’ that, that’s all that matters, ain’t it?” Eyeball said supportively.  He held her gaze for a moment and she turned from her shade of deep pink to crimson red.  “Whose glasses am I fillin’?”

I grabbed one from the stack and held it out for him to pour into, and then he topped up everyone else’s.

“You want one this time, Natalie?” Eyeball asked her.

“As I said, I’ve never… and it smells very strong.  My parents... they're strict.”

Eyeball set a glass down in front of her and cracked a persuasive smile.  “Just one drop ain’t gonna hurt.”

“Well, OK then,” she said with a little girl giggle.  “Just the one.”

“That’a girl,” he praised her, giving her the lion’s share of what was left.

When that bottle was over, Eyeball grabbed a new bottle of Forester from his car, and for an hour, all six of us worked on depleting it.

I noticed that the gap between Ace and I was closing in every time I looked, and we were soon sharing a cushion with me up hard against the sofa arm.  A couple of times, I felt his fingers wander and dare to slip under the rim of my shirt or a little way down the back of my shorts.  I melted at his touch.  Eventually though, it was more than I could take, and I excused myself to the bathroom.

When I came out, I heard a “pssst…” coming from out the back.  I went out the back door to see Vince standing on the porch and cautiously glancing down the hallway behind me as if to check nobody else was coming.

“What is it, Vince?” I asked.  “Why did you drag me all the way out here?”

“Because of the babe!”  He talked with such excitement in his voice that I just stared at him in surprise.  “Boy, she sure is a beauty, ain’t she Cass?”

“You’re talking about Natalie.”

“Nah… I’m talking about Eyeball’s girl.  Of course I’m talking about Natalie!”

“OK, OK, calm down there, tiger...  What’s this got to with me?”

“ _You_ are gonna get me a date with her.”

“Ah… come again?”

“You can get friends with her, you know?  And you can tell her how you’d think we’d make a great match and everything.”

“A ‘great match’…”

“Geez, I dunno what you should say,” he said, backhanding me on the shoulder.  “That’s why I’m gettin’ you, ‘cause girls are all about that sort of talk.”

“Why don’t you just ask her out yourself?”

“Well, I will.  But you’ve gotta… you know…”

“Con her.”

“No, not _con_ her!  Sweeten her up.  Make sure I can’t lose.”  He peered down the hallway behind me.  “Fuck, Ace is coming.  Do it, Cassie or you know what I’ll tell them.  DO IT.”  And then he took off down the hall, avoiding Ace’s curious stare as he passed him.

“What did Vince want?” Ace asked me as he stepped out onto the porch.

“Oh… nothing,” I waved it off.  “He’s just being Vince.  What’s up?”

Ace surprised me as he came at me with urgency and pinned me to the wall, locking me into one of his tantalizing tongue rolls.  I wrapped my arms around his neck and let him hoist me up hard against the cladding clasped my legs around his waist.

“Fuck, I gotta have you, baby,” he growled in my ear, making my abdomen throb.

“You told her?”

He mumbled something into my neck that sounded like, “Forget her,” and I glared at him in disappointment.  “Well, if you’re still with her, then… let me down.”  I wriggled my way off him and went to walk inside, but he grabbed me by the wrist.

“What the fuck’s the problem?  We’re over and that’s that.”

“But _she_ doesn’t know you’re over, so technically, you’re not.”

“You don’t think I’ll do it.”

“Doesn’t matter what I _think_.  You haven’t done it yet.  And I told you _we’re_ doing nothin’ until she’s gone.  That was the deal.”

“Fuck the deal.  Do you want this or not?”

“Of course I do.  But I need to be your one and only.  Is that too much to ask?”

“But you are!”

“I’m not!”

“Fuck this!  I’m goin’ for a drink!”

“Fine then!  Go!”

Ace stormed down the hallway and snatched his keys off the table before slamming the kitchen door so hard it bounced open again.  I couldn’t see the reactions of everyone in the living room and I didn’t want to.  I sat on the edge of the low porch and tried to calm myself down.  Our argument kept running through my head over and over and the more I heard it, the more I admitted to myself that Antonia wasn’t the real problem.  I was falling for Ace too fast and too hard, and I was scared half to death about it.

“Do you mind if I join you?” Natalie asked with a hiccup.

I quickly wiped the stray tears from my eyes and took a deep breath to compose myself.  “Sure.”

She sat down beside me, and her long dress hung in the dirt at our feet.  “Are you OK?” she asked in her sweet voice.

“I’ll be fine.  How much of that did you all hear?”

“I don’t know… only that your boyfriend said he said he wanted more to drink?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I sighed.  “Not really.”  I ran my fingers through my hair with frustration.  “God, what am I doing?”

“Do you need someone to talk to?”

I looked into her pretty, green doe eyes and marveled at just how perfect she was.  Perfect olive complexion, cute little hands and a beautiful nature.  I was afraid I might taint her simply by talking to her.  “I don’t want to bother you with any of that.  But there is something I need to say.  I’m really sorry about snapping at you earlier.  I’m not usually like that, and I don’t know what came over me.  I’m usually nice – really, I am.”

“That’s OK.  It warms me to know that our new diner was so loved.”

“You’re very understanding.”

“I’ll try to talk to my mother about not changing the name.  I’ll try to make her appreciate your reasons why.”

“Look, it’s your diner now.  It’s not for me to say what you do with it.  I’m just hung up on old memories.  I need to let go and move on.  Maybe changing the name would even help that.” I took a deep breath and noticed how calm I had become just by talking to her.  Her presence was so soothing.  Comforting.

“So, you’re from Santa Cruz, huh?” I asked her.

“Yes.”

“What will you miss most?  The beaches or the surfers?” I winked.

She gave me a soft smile.  “Actually, I wasn’t allowed to go down to the beach.”

“You’re joking…”

“I’m not.  Mother didn’t like all of the riff raff down there.  I wasn’t allowed to go to a lot of places.  Only to church and outings that were organized by the church.  And I’m afraid, the beach was never included in one of those outings.”

“That is so unfair!”

“I know,” she sighed.  “My brother is allowed to go wherever he pleases because he never does wrong.  But my mother doesn’t trust me.  And she is right not to.  After all, I did give in to the temptation of alcohol today, and that is strictly prohibited.”

I laughed to myself.  I really did love the poshness in the way she spoke.  “Then why did she let you come out today?”

“Because my parents are friends with Carol’s parents now.  Although Carol’s parents aren’t Catholic like we are, my mother considers them worthy of approval.”

“Worthy of approval?”

“Yes,” she sighed.  “As I mentioned earlier, they’re very intent on being ‘proper’.  And that means no improper influences should ever be in our lives.  They think Carol and I are window shopping and having a picnic in the park right now.  But if they ever learn how much Carol lies to her parents or how she drinks and has a boyfriend, I certainly wouldn’t be able to see her anymore.”

“Well, that writes us off as friends then.”

“No, it doesn’t.  I would love to have you as a friend.”

“But I’d be a terrible influence.”

“In their eyes, perhaps.  But you and Carol are the kind of friends I’ve always wanted.  I’m nothing like my parents.  I dare to question them; I dare to question faith and religion.  I’m the black sheep of the family.”

“Oh… so, you don’t believe in any of that?”

“I’m not sure what I believe.  I feel like my mind is too clouded with everyone else’s beliefs to be certain of my own.  I’m eighteen years old and I don’t even know who I am.  I need to find myself.  And I’m trying, I really am.”

“You’re old enough to leave home – ever thought about just walking out?”

“Of course.  But I don’t know anything about the world.  And I have no money.  My parents have never paid me for the work I do in their diners; I work and they take care of everything.  And they’ve always told me that one day, they’ll find a suitable husband who can take care of me the same.  But I want so much more, Cassie.”

We heard the clopping of shoes coming down the wooden floor of the hallway, and we both turned to see Carol bounding towards us.  “Well, aren’t you two getting along just fine!”

“Yes, we are,” I said.  “And I’m sorry I snapped at you before.  You didn’t deserve that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she waved it off.  “We all get emotional about things every now and then.  Especially things we care about the most.”  Carol got a distant look in her eyes then, and it caused me to wonder whether there was something going on with her.

“Why don’t you sit with us and chat?” I asked her.

“I would, but we need to get Natalie home.  We can’t be one second late now, can we?”

“No, that would not be good,” Natalie agreed, and she stood and smoothed her long dress.

“I suppose I won’t be able to visit you,” I said to Natalie.

“I’m sure Carol and I will plan another outing soon, and perhaps you could join us?”

“I would love to.”

Eyeball, Carol and Natalie all headed back into town, and as soon as their tail lights were out of view, Vince was on my case.

“So, what did she say?” he asked eagerly.  “Am I in?”

“You can forget that one, Vince.  She can barely get out of the house let alone manage a boyfriend.”

Vince gawped at me in shock as if I had just struck him.  To be honest, I was looking for excuses _not_ to hook them up.  “Did you try to talk her round?” he asked.

“There’s no point.  She’s like a bird trapped in a cage.”

“She got ‘round here just now, didn’t she?”

“Well… I guess…”  I couldn’t argue with that, no matter how much I wanted to.

“OK Cass, if that’s the way you want it, I’ll go find Ace now and tell him you love to lick feet.”  He grabbed his keys out of his pocket and rattled them in front of me before storming towards the kitchen door, while I gaped at him, horrified.

“OK!  OK!  Just leave it with me, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“You’d better, Cassie,” he pointed at me.  “Tomorrow at the latest.”

“But I don’t know how I can see her tomorrow!”

“Figure it out!  And this is your last chance!”

He stormed out the door and I heard his car start, leaving me alone to worry about how I would tackle all of this.  But it didn’t take long to devise a plan.

**2**

The dress was perfect.  It was baby blue with a high neck collar, sleeves to my wrists and pleats that fell past my knees.  It was conservative, ladylike and proper.  Absolutely nothing like I had ever owned or ever dreamed of wearing.  I had curled my hair and tucked it back with a matching blue headband that had a bow just off to one side.  I twirled in the mirror, feeling like I’d just walked out of a Jane Austin novel.  I looked like a respectable Christian girl.

Biking in that dress was out of the question, and so I walked the two miles into town.  It was late afternoon, church was out and I was fairly sure Natalie would be home.

As I walked passed the diner, I noticed a sign in the window that read, ‘Reopening soon’.  I guessed it was still being renovated; the new drapes that hung in the windows kept all of its secrets contained.  The door was locked tight, as I thought it would be, so I walked right around the block to the front of the house instead.  Rose and Violet’s old house.  My old house.

It was the first time I’d stepped onto that property in a month.  I walked through the little gate of the white picket fence, strolled up the tidy pebbled path and then stood on the front porch of the place I’d called home for four months.  Everything looked exactly as it had before, but nothing was the same.  Different people lived there, I couldn’t just walk in whenever I pleased, I had to knock…

After waiting a long while, a lady finally answered.  With big green doe eyes and plump cheeks identical to Natalie’s, I guessed that this could only be her mother.  She wore a yellow check cotton dress that hung well below her knees with a white apron tied around her waist, appearing as the perfect housewife.  Unlike Natalie’s dark hair which flowed as a wavy frame to her face, her mother’s hair was tied back in a bun.  And unlike Natalie’s kind smile, her mother’s lips were rigidly set in a tight line.

“Yes?” she asked sharply.  She pompously looked me up and down, making me feel self-conscious, inferior and incredibly awkward.  Dress or no dress, I knew straight off the bat that she didn’t like the look of me.

“Hello Mrs…” and then I realized I didn’t know Natalie’s surname.  _Shit!_   I stared at her dumbly.

“Preston,” she sighed.  Now, what do you want, child?”

“I would like to speak to Natalie, if I could please.”

“And whom might you be?”

“I am… a friend of Carol’s, actually… and Natalie and I met yesterday briefly and I-”

Natalie suddenly appeared in the doorway beside her mother, and her plump cheeks flushed red as she saw me.  “Oh… Cassie… hello…” she said uneasily.  “Mother, this is a new friend of mine.”

“Well, Natalie, you are well aware of the correct procedures for introducing new friends, and this is most certainly not it.  Now, girl,” she said to me, “if you are to be friends with my daughter then I must make your parents’ acquaintance.  It is of the utmost importance that Natalie only has the very best of influences, and your parents should feel the same way.”

“Oh… of course.  Except they’re doing church… things… sermons… and things… out of town for a few days…”

“And they left you at home alone?” she gasped in outrage.

“Mother, may I please speak to Cassie for a while until supper?” Natalie interrupted.  “I have finished all of my chores.”

Her mother gave me a distrusting frown, more than likely doubting that leaving her daughter alone with a wild wolf in sheep’s clothing was such a good idea.  “You know the rules, Natalie.  Unless your father and I agree that-”

“I understand that, but we’ll just be out here talking.  There will be no harm in it.  Please Mother?”

“Hmm… I guess you may,” she finally agreed.  “But DO NOT stray from the house, and DO NOT talk to anyone else who comes by and DO NOT close this door.  Do you understand?”

“Yes Mother.”

“I’ll have your brother call you when supper is ready.”  She gave me one last disapproving glare before heading back into the house and leaving the front door wide open.

“Would you like to sit?” Natalie asked me with a kind smile.

“Huh?” I had to shake myself back into reality; I felt like I’d just been put through the wringer.

“We can sit if you’d like to talk a while.”  She gestured to the antique wrought iron furniture on the patio which consisted of two chairs and a table.  It had been sold with the house along with many other things that Violet couldn't take with her when she left.  Rose and Violet used to enjoy sitting in that space in the afternoons, watching over the street as they knitted before taking an afternoon nana nap.

We each took a seat on opposite sides of the table, and she sat right on the edge of her chair and leaned in to whisper, “I told you my mother is strict.”

“And you weren’t kidding… holy shit!” I whispered back.

“This is what I have to live with every day.  Oh and… please try not to swear.  My pesky brother has big ears and he won’t hesitate to tell on you.”

“Sorry to put you through all of this.”

“I certainly wasn’t expecting a visit so soon… or at all.  But I’m so glad to see you,” she beamed.

“I’m happy to see you too.”

“By the way… you look…” Her pretty face frowned as she tried to find the right words and then she burst into giggles.

“Shut up,” I jokingly warned her.  “I can hardly move my arms.  Never happening again.”

“I doubt this ever will happen again,” she said seriously.  “Like my mother said, her and Father need to meet your parents before they’ll let us spend time together, and we both know that can’t happen.”

“Oh… Carol told you?”

“Yes.  I’m very sorry to hear it.”

“It’s OK.  I manage to get by.”

Natalie sighed, twirling a dark-brown lock of hair around her fingers in thought.  “I’m sad to say that the only way we’ll ever get to see each other is when I can get away with Carol, like last week.  And my mother is already becoming suspicious that Carol isn’t… pure.  If she ever abolishes our friendship, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

I sighed with sympathy for this poor girl.  It was like seeing the most beautiful and unique bird in the world pecking at the bars of a cage.  I wanted to release her and watch her soar.

“Natalie,” I said in a hushed whisper, “yesterday when you said you wanted more, how serious were you about that?”

“Oh, I’m dead serious.”

“What about your relationship with your parents?  If you move out and get your life together-”

“I love my parents, Cassie.”  She spoke so quietly I had to strain my ears to hear her delicate voice.  “They have raised me, and they are only doing what they think is best for me.  But if I live the life they want me to, then eventually I will be driven mad.  I _have_ to get out.  And if my parents cannot understand what is truly best for me then… I have to get out at any cost.”

“Well, I have an idea.  But it’s risky.”

“What is it?”

“I could help you sneak out some nights.  We could have some fun, talk and chat about the sorts of things you’ll need to know to get by in the world, prepare you to leave home and start a life for yourself.”

Her green eyes went wide as if she were having a moment of sudden and great revelation.

“We could do a couple of nights a week, you know?  And just for an hour, perhaps?  If you’re not gone too long there’s much less risk of them noticing you’re missing.”

“That could work…” she whispered.  “Oh, think of the possibilities!  Of where I could go, of what I could do… of who I could see.”

“Really?  You really want to?  How about I come and get you tonight?”

“Natalie, supper is ready,” came a voice from behind me.

I twisted around to see a dark-haired young man who was well-dressed in a collared shirt and dress pants.  This could only be Natalie’s twin brother.  His face was flawless, just like hers, and although he didn’t have her plump cheeks, he had her eyes.  He was the ‘clean’ type that some girls crawled over, although from what Natalie said about him, I doubted that would be happening.

“Thank you, Nathan.  I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Now, Natalie.  Mother and Father are waiting to say grace.”

He disappeared inside, and Natalie’s expression filled with grit and determination.  “I’ll do it,” she said.

“You will?”

“My room is the one on the end there,” she pointed.

It was my old room.

**3**

I jumped the waist-high picket fence and crept up to Natalie’s bedroom window.  It was only a one-story cottage, and the windowsill was at my shoulder level.  The window itself was one of those push up ones; the type you always worried about sticking your head out of because there was a good chance it would slip down and decapitate you.  The good thing was, those windows are huge and, when pushed up to the brink, they can easily fit a person through them.

I leaned over the flowerbed to avoid standing in it, slipped my fingertips into the crack where the window was open an inch and pushed it up a bit more.

“Cassie,” Natalie whispered, quiet as a mouse, from above.  She pushed the window right up and drew the net curtains to one side.

“You’re awake.”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Do you still want to do this?”

“We’ll be gone for one hour only?”

“Yes.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  “Very good.  I just have to dress.”

With one foot on the brick exterior and two hands on the sill, I hoisted myself up and got my head through the window, belly on the ledge.  Natalie helped get the rest of me through as quietly as we could manage, and I soon stepped into the small room I once called my own.

“We must be quiet.  Nathan’s room is right there,” she pointed to the wall across from us.  “He’s a light sleeper.”

She switched on her bedside lamp and draped it in a cloth to dampen the light.  The furniture was arranged much the same as I used to have it – there was a bed against the wall on my left, a dresser along the wall on my right and the door in the far-right corner.  There was a beautiful cross carved in wood above her bed, but no others that I could see.  But what took my breath away was the paintings that were on every wall.  They were mostly nature paintings – butterflies and bunnies running freely in the fields, and all in intricate detail.  But the one that caught my eye the most was a landscape shot of a huge crevasse in a desert setting, and on one of the small cliffs stood a silhouette of what appeared to be a girl with the wind blowing through her hair.

“You’re an artist,” I whispered.  I softly tiptoed over to her work-in-progress on the small easel in the corner.

“I began sketching as soon as I was able to hold a pencil, and then a few years later I asked to paint.  Fortunately for me, Mother agreed that it was a suitable recreational activity for a young woman to have.”

“These are amazing.”

“Thank you.”

I looked to see that she had dressed in something similar to what she had worn the other day - a drab pinafore style dress that touched her ankles, with a long sleeve blouse underneath.

“All ready?” I asked, mocking a devious grin.

“I’m a little nervous, but… yes.  I’m ready.” 

I arranged her pillows into the form of a body under the sheets – I didn’t think it would fool anyone, but it was worth a shot.

“OK.  I’ll go first and guide you down.”  I threw two legs over the ledge, turned on my belly and scaled down the brick exterior, jumping clear of the garden.  “Just do what I did,” I whispered up at her.

She sat on the windowsill in her long dress, threw two legs over and turned onto her belly.  To be honest, I expected her to get stuck at this point, but she jumped clear of the garden and landed firmly on two feet.  I reached up to lower the window, leaving it open an inch so we could push it back up when we returned.  We then quietly scampered out, jumping the picket fence and walked down the backstreet towards the car.

“Wow, you did well…” I said, thankful to be able to talk normally again.

“I’ve been looking out of that window all day just working out how I would do it.  And wondering if I could go through with it.  But now that I’m out… I feel so… liberated!  Oh, Cassie… I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Let’s just hope they don’t notice you’re missing.”

“Right now, I don’t even care about that.  If they put bars on my windows, lock me in my room for a month – whatever the consequence.  They can’t take this moment away from me!” she squealed with excitement.

Seeing her face filled with so much joy in the moonlight, I could have cried.

“This is us,” I said when we arrived at the blue Studebaker that I had parked up the street a little way.

“Isn’t this… Vince’s car?” she asked.

“Yeah.  He… erm… owed me a favor.”

In actual fact, convincing Vince to let me borrow his car was like trying to pry a bottle of whiskey from the hands of an alcoholic.  First, he laughed at me, but when I told him that Natalie would be sitting in it, he started to come around.  In the end, I was given a list of conditions – practical ones actually, which was surprising coming from him.  No drinking before driving, I had to have it back by 1 am and I had to get a driver’s license.  Nobody drove his baby without a license.  I had been putting it off for too long now anyway, and so I finally got one earlier that afternoon.

As we sped off, heading for the highway out of town, Natalie’s dress spread across the seat as she twisted to look out the back window.  “I can’t believe I’m really doing it!” she beamed, the thrill of rebellion shining in her eyes.  “Oh, my heart is racing.  Where are we going?”

“Not too far for your first night.  It nearly midnight already and Vince wants this back by one.  I thought we’d go somewhere like… right about here.”  We were on the open highway, not far from Ace’s place, and I pulled to the side of the road and turned off the engine.  “Let’s go.”

We got out, and I grabbed a blanket from the boot which I had brought with me from home.  “This way,” I told her, although I didn’t know where I was going exactly.  I stepped into the long grass which shouldered the side of the road and jumped the wooden fence into the nearest field.  The moon was high that night which made it easy to see the vast the sea of fields that surrounded us.  The usual countryside smells like hay and manure went with that, but it was mild and completely bearable.

“Come on Nat, let’s go!”

She tottered over in her big skirt, stepped up onto the lower fence plank and then over.  “Where are we going, Cassie?”

I grabbed her hand and began to jog, towing her along behind me.  The grass had been chewed shorter on this side of the fence, so it was easy to run on… I just hoped we wouldn’t skid on a cow pat.  Natalie puffed and giggled the whole way until I finally decided we were far enough away from anything that would remind us of civilization.

“This seems like a good spot.”

“Good spot for what?”

“Star gazing of course.” I laid the blanket down in a random spot and then lay on it to look up at the beautiful night sky.

“Oh!” she cried.  “What a simply wonderful idea!”  She joined me on the blanket and stretched out her legs.

“It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?” I nodded upward.

“Breath-taking,” she said softly.  “Peaceful.  Tranquil.  Carefree.  I wish I could stay here forever.”

“Me too.  The night sky is fascinating, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“I remember when I was young, when things got too much at home, I’d wait until late at night and then wrap myself up warm, go outside and just watch the stars.  I’d usually fall asleep out there.  They always brought me peace, even in the toughest times.”

“Did you see that?” she asked, pointing to the east.  “It was a shooting star!”

“Falling star.”

“Falling star?”

“Yeah.  Although, did you know that shooting stars and falling stars aren’t actually stars?  Sometimes bits of rock from space fall into the atmosphere.  The nearest star is actually the sun and the rest are billions of miles away.”

“Wow, you sure know a lot…”

“Yeah,” I sighed.  “I used to know a human encyclopedia.”

“A human encyclopedia?” she chucked.

“I grew up living next door to this guy.  We hung out together a lot.  If anyone knew how to make being smart look cool, it was him.  He used to fill my head with all sorts of useless facts.”

“Tell me more,” she said, nudging me in the arm, and I could hear her grinning.

I stifled a laugh.  “Oh, I don’t think you wanna know.”

“Oh… alright then.”

At first, I was resolute on not going there, but then I thought again.  Natalie seemed like a good ear, and I hadn’t had one of those in a while, especially not a female one that I could go to with all my ‘boy’ problems.

I breathed a sigh and stared back up at the stars.  “I was five when my mother and I moved in next door to him.  He was eleven.  We lived in a short cul-de-sac street and there weren’t many kids around.  Apart from me, there was only one other girl, and she was older and didn’t want to know me.  I think James felt sorry for me because he took me into the little group of him and his brothers and a couple of other boys on the street, and he always made sure I was included in everything they did.  Climbing trees, building forts, water fights – all that stuff boys like to do.  And all through the years he always made sure I was alright.  My mother had a lot of problems, but James was always there, looking out for me and making sure I always did my homework,” I chuckled.  “And honestly, I never thought of him like… you know… I mean, I wasn’t attracted to him like _that_ until I was way older.  I was 16.  But by then, he was 22.  He was way too old for me, and I always understood that, but sometimes feelings just get in the way of common sense.  He was the only person that knew how my mother was and didn’t judge us.  He always made me feel so normal while everyone else treated me like I was a freak.”

“He sounds like a nice person…”

“He was, but… oh, I don’t know.  Maybe it was all my fault.  I was the one who kissed him out of the blue.  But he never told me that it was wrong or that he didn’t want it.  Over the next few months, what started out as flirting and brief make out sessions became… so much more.  I totally fell head over heels for him.  And I think he did love me like he said he did, but the ‘age’ thing was always a problem.  I was more like his dirty little secret than a girlfriend.  He always had other girlfriends – of course, he had to keep up appearances.  But even when I was going on 18, he still didn’t want to make it official.  Because by that time, he’d fallen in love with someone else.  Someone who was old enough to marry him and bear children.  Of course, plenty of girls marry at 18 but he said he didn’t want to tie me down so young.  I told him I’d do anything for him, but… I guess he just didn’t want me as much as he said he did.”

“Oh, Cassie,” she said, and I felt her hand on my shoulder.  Her face looked so angelic in the moonlight.  I hoped I wasn’t spoiling her pureness by filling her mind with all of my baggage.

“Anyway, he’s gone now.  But I’m still trying to let him go which is crazy, I know.”

“Are you going to go with Ace now?  He seems nothing like James as you described him.  He seems so… angry.”

“It’s easy to set him off, but he’s not always like that.  We’ve actually had some good times together.  He’s nothing like James – you’re right about that – but, that’s what I like about him.  James was responsible and cautious - except when it came to me I suppose.  But Ace, he dares to do things.  He takes risks that no sensible person would ever dream of doing.  James was full of useless facts.  Ace is street smart.  And he’s cunning enough and slippery enough to get away with just about anything.  Being with someone like that, it makes you feel… invincible.  When I’m with Ace, I feel alive.  And no one in my life, especially not James, ever made me feel that way.”

“Cassie,” she said after a while.

“Yeah?”

“I know exactly how you feel.”

“You do?”

“Yes.  Can I tell you something?  In confidence?”

“Of course.”

“OK, well, I know how you feel because there’s someone who makes me feel that way too.”

I looked at her with sudden interest.  Vince was obviously the first guy to spring to mind and I didn’t know whether to hope or dread hearing her say his name.

“Who?” I asked.

“Well… it’s… Eyeball.”

I was in the middle of a swallow and literally choked on it.  I gawped at her bug-eyed, stunned.  “Eyeball?” I spluttered.

“I’m really bad, aren’t I?” She rolled over onto her back again with a sigh and looked up into the dark skies above.

“Well, Natalie… he’s your best friend’s boyfriend,” I said.  “If there’s any guy who’s off limits, it’s him.”

“But, I really like him,” she sighed again.  “He’s just so… carefree.  And so cool and crazy.  Plus, he’s so incredibly cute, don’t you think?”

I chuckled.  “Yeah, I guess so.  And I’ve seen him with his shirt off.”  I teasingly nudged her in the arm.

“Really?” she asked with a little gasp, and I kept right on chuckling.

“Oh yeah.  He is smoking hot, honey.”

“Oh my,” she giggled, and then I heard a little sigh.  “I know he belongs to Carol.  And I would never do anything that might hurt her.  But nonetheless, Eyeball makes me feel that way.”

“Well, since Eyeball’s taken, have you ever considered… Vince?”  I had to force the name out of my mouth.  My cheeks suddenly went burning hot, and I felt sick about being made to deceive this angel.

“Vince?”

“Yeah… you know he’s… not bad when he’s… oh, who am I kidding?” I sat up to catch my breath, and Natalie sat up alongside me.  “I’m sorry, I just can’t…”

“Cassie, what’s the matter?”

“I’m sorry, Nat.  I just have to tell you.  But please don’t think bad of me.  Please?  I did genuinely bring you out here tonight because I like you, not just because of him.”

“What… I don’t understand.”

“Vince… he’s got the major hots for you.  He wants to take you out.”

“Really?  You mean… on a date?”

“Yes.”

“Gee,” she chuckled, and she looked at me with her eyes wide and a slight disbelieving grin on her face.  “No one has ever asked me out on a date before.”

“You sound… interested.”

“Yes.  New experiences are just the thing I’ve been wishing for.  A boy liking me… oh, I feel all fluttery inside,” she giggled.

“But… this is Vince.  Obstinate and arrogant, egotistical Vince.”

“Oh.  Is he?  He didn’t… come across that way to me…”

“Well, he wouldn’t if he likes you.  He’ll be on his best behavior until he gets what he wants from you and then he’ll…”

Natalie gave a little sigh.  “Maybe that isn’t such a good idea then.”

“Look,” I said after a little while.  “Vince and I don’t see eye-to-eye on most things.  OK – basically, we hate each other.  And I guess I am feeling protective of you, but… I’m not your mother.  It’s your decision.  If you _want_ to go on a date with him, then do it.”

“There’s just one thing I still don’t understand.  If you and Vince don’t get along, then why are you trying to help him?”

“Because… has something on me.  Something really embarrassing that nobody can ever find out about.  Especially not Ace.”

“Oh, Cassie,” she giggled.  “That sounds like a dreadful situation to be in.”

“And you sound so sympathetic!” I pushed her in the arm.

I thought for a moment.  I felt like I owed her the truth, especially if she did go through with a date with Vince.

“You can keep a secret, right?”

“Of course.  Especially for you.”

“Good.  Because if the other guys find out about this…”

“I won’t say a word.  You can trust me.”

I breathed a sigh.  “OK, well, I made a bet with Vince, you see… and part of the bet was that the looser had to kiss the winners feet and… well, I lost.  And Vince’s feet… oh my God.  They smelt like he’d been standing in cow manure for a month.”

I’d barely got out the words, “kiss the winners feet” and Natalie was already in a fit of giggles.

“This isn’t funny!”

“Cassie,” she cried, “that is simply the funniest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life!”

Even though the joke was on me, it was nice to see her laugh.  I was at ease enough to see funny side for once and soon, we were both in hysterics.

“Oh my,” she said, taking a breath and wiping away a happy tear.  “I’m so sorry, I haven’t laughed like that in a long time and it felt so good.”

“Well, I’m glad I could give you a moment like that,” I said, half-sarcastically.

We each took a breath to calm ourselves and then Natalie said, “I’ve made my decision.  I will go on a date with Vince.”

“You’re really sure?”

“I have two reasons now.  For me and for you.”

“You don’t have to do anything for me.  Please don’t do it for my sake.  I would rather be made a laughing stock than subject you to something like this.”

She put her arms around me and hugged me, side-on.  “I’m sure it won’t be so bad.  I’ll take a clothes peg for my nose, just in case.”

“Where have you been all my life?” I laughed.


	20. Bitter Reunion

Vince was pacing the sidewalk when Natalie and I arrived back at just a little after one.

“Where have you been?” he growled, coming at me impatiently from across the road.  And then he saw Nat get out of the other side of the car.  He just stopped at stared at her as if he’d suddenly gone stupid, and she gave him a shy smile that would make any man’s heart melt.

“Hello, Natalie,” he said, giving her a wave.  “Did you have a nice night out?”

“Yes, thank you,” she replied.  It was so funny seeing Vince acting polite that I had to strap my hand over my mouth to restrain it from rudely laughing.  He walked around the car to see her and leaned against his front fender to strike up some more conversation.

“I’ll just be over here…” I told Natalie.

“Alright,” came the reply, although she didn’t take her eyes of Vince.

I crossed the road and went just around the corner – not too far away because I would have to help her get home; just far enough to give them privacy.

After a little while, Vince walked around the corner with his chest out proud and a chuffed grin on his face.  “You did good, Cass,” he said, roughly messing my hair.

I fixed it again and then met Natalie who was waiting for me just up the road a little with a grin that was not too dissimilar from the one I’d seen on Vince.

“So, when are you going out?” I asked as we turned into the dark backstreet behind the diner.

“Tomorrow night, if you can help me.  I don’t want Vince near my house; if my mother caught him there, I would be held under lock and key.”

“That should be fine.  I don’t have any plans.”

“It feels simply wonderful, doesn’t it?  A boy actually likes me.  I can’t stop smiling.”

“Of course.  You’re beautiful and kind, talented… just don’t go flaunting yourself around Ace or there _will_ be trouble,” I teased, playfully bumping into her, and she giggled.

“Aw, that’s very nice of you to say, Cassie.”

We arrived at the foot of her window, and we both looked upon it as she drew in a shaky breath.  “I don’t want to go back,” she whispered.

“Maybe one day you won’t have to.”

She threw her arms around me for one last hug before I helped her with the climb.

\---

Walking up Main street, I stopped outside the Blue Point diner to see that drapes were still hanging in the windows.  I wondered if they still intended on changing the name and, if so, what it might be.  I was coming to terms with that now.  After getting to know Natalie, I was finding it easier to let the past go.  Maybe it was because if the diner had never been sold then I would never have known her.

“Hey, Cass,” said a familiar voice.

The voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked back down the street to see Eyeball standing outside Irby’s with a beer in one hand and a smoke in the other.  He started wobbling towards me, drunk as a skunk, and I laughed to myself as I thought about the dreamy look in Natalie’s eyes when she spoke of him.  I also wondered if he had any idea about it.

“What you doin’ out here by yourself?” he asked.  He sat on the nearest window ledge and leaned back against the glass.

“Just… thinking.  Why, what are you doing?”

“Can’t remember,” he slurred with a slight cackle.  “Came out here for somethin’… but… nup, it’s gone.”

“Well, it’s been a long day.  I’m going home.”

“Why don’t you come in for a bit.  Come shoot some pool.  I’ll buy you a drink.”

“Thanks, but… Ace is in there, right?”

He glared at me like a deer caught in the headlights.  “Ace?  Uh.. no.  No, Ace ain’t in there, no.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

Eyeball stuck his cigarette in his mouth, wrapped an arm around my waist and started leading me back down the path.  “Come on, Cass,” he mumbled through his smoke.  “You need to have some fun; get outta that mood you’re in.”

“I’m not in a mood.”

“Then stop worryin’ ‘bout nothin’!  Just go with it.  Life’s better like that.”

He pushed open the door to Irby’s, and a short, brawny, red-headed guy came out and nearly bumped straight into us.  “Hey, watch where you’re goin’ man!” Eyeball snarled.

The guy stopped and glared at me for a moment, and a shady smirk formed at the corner of his lips.  He squirmed past us with his eyes fixed on me which seemed overly odd and even a little creepy.  I clutched Eyeball tight at the waist, glad to have him with me at that moment.

“I remember that guy…” I said as we watched him stagger down the street.  “At my old house in Hutt, he was peeking out at me and Ace from the neighbor’s house.”

“Still wanna walk home by yourself?”

The thick smoke made me choke, but the warmth of the pool hall caressed me so lovingly that I didn’t mind paying up with a brief coughing fit.  It was crowded in there for a week night.  I hung on Eyeball’s tail, bumping shoulders with people as he led me to the back of the room where the other boys looked to be well into the night’s drinking session.

Vince’s voice is always the first one you hear, even when it’s a full house and the jukebox is playing at full volume.  He was now sitting in the booth with Jack and Fuzzy, and so I kept my distance and hung around the pool table where Billy and Charlie were finishing up a game.  It took a few moments of looking around for me to spot Ace.  He was sitting at the bar with a beer in his hand and looking up at a game of baseball playing on the television set on the shelf above them.

“I’ll get you that drink,” Eyeball said, patting his back pocket.  “Shit… where’s my wallet?  Oh, now I remember what I was doin’!  Shit…”

“It’s OK.  I might start looking for a ride home.”

“No you ain’t.  You stay right put there.”  He meandered over to the next pool table where a group of young guys were playing with a small pile of cash near the corner pocket for bets.  I watched, stunned as he swiped the money up without even bothering to be discreet and walked off with it.  One of the guys chased him in protest, but Eyeball just squared his shoulders and gave him a look as if to say, ‘what are you gonna do about it?’ and the guy backed right off.

Eyeball went to the bar, pushed his way through a wall of people to yell his order to Joe and then leaned down for a word with his blonde-haired buddy.  I wanted to make a beeline for the door, but my legs refused to take me.  I stood stiff as a board, feeling ultimately exposed as I braced myself for impact.

Ace looked my way, and his gaze caught mine but only held for a moment before he went back to watching his game.  I don’t know what I had been expecting from him, but it wasn’t that and I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Get over to the booth and hide it.”  Eyeball was shoving a new bottle of some unfamiliar brand of whiskey into my hands and looking over his shoulder towards the bar.

“What did you do…?”

“Just get over there,” he cackled and gave me gentle shove.

“I’m going home.”

Eyeball ignored all protests and forced me into the booth.  He shuffled me along the seat until I was squashed up next to Jack.  He kept looking over at the bar and laughing a mischievous laugh, but nobody from over that way seemed to be paying him any attention.  It looked like he got away with it.

“Pour us some shots!” Eyeball put a few shot glasses down on the table, and I looked over at Ace who was still paying more attention to his baseball game than to me.

Eyeball snatched the bottle from my hands and cracked it open.  “Come on, I’m sobering up here!”  As he poured into the little glasses, two pairs of keds went walking across the table, almost kicking them over, much to Eyeball’s disgust.

Jack and Fuzzy had been making arrangements with Billy and Charlie to be up next for a game, but now they were blocked in and decided that going over the table was the easiest route out.  As they both jumped off the end, Charlie slid onto the end of the bench seat followed by Billy, and I was pushed along to being squashed up against the wall… and right opposite Vince.

“Hey O’Connor,” he grinned, kicking my shoe under the table.

I grabbed one of the shots and downed it.   And gagged on it.  My face contorted from the foul flavor.  “Yuck, what is that stuff!?”

“It’s alcohol! And it’s free.”

“No wonder… I bet Joe _let_ you steal it.”

Eyeball mouthed off to defend his disgusting bottle of booze, but his voice became a blur of words once Ace sat down on the opposite side of the booth, his face emotionless.  Again, he briefly looked at me and then carried on as if I wasn’t there.  “We need a round.  Billy, you’re up.”

“Man… I always buy the drinks," Billy grumbled.

“Well, you’re on the end!  If any of these other douchebags were on the end, they’d be buying, wouldn’t they?”

“Since when was that a rule?”

“Since now.  Hurry up, Billy.  Move it.”

Billy grudgingly went over to the bar and brought back a round of beers.  He slid them down the table and one arrived right in front of me.  Of course, I don’t usually drink beer, but the whiskey Eyeball stole tasted like it had been filtered through one of Vince’s socks, and I needed something to take the edge off.

Ace guzzled his drink down without stopping for breath and then swiped the can from Billy’s hand before it had even touched his lips and downed that too.  “I’m out,” he said, crushing the last can in his hand.  And then he looked to Billy for more.

Round two came and went and then three and four - all courtesy of Billy despite him grudging about it every time.  Just as he began to protest about being made to buy round five, we all noticed Charlie straining in discomfort.

“What’s the matter, Charlie?” Eyeball snickered.

“Nothin’…” he winced.

When Billy realized what was happening, his face lit up.  “Ha!  Drinks are on you next, asshole!”

Charlie squirmed as he tried to hold it but quickly gave in to agony.  “Fuck this, lemme out…”  Billy eagerly obliged and stood aside while Charlie bolted out of the booth and towards the men’s room.

“Ah, fuck!” Eyeball cursed before shuffling along the seat and out.  As he hurried towards the men’s room, Billy smugly secured his seat which happened to be next to me.

We all watched with anticipation to see whose head would peek out of the men’s room first.  Charlie’s spiky blond hair peeked out followed by Eyeball’s curly brown mop at a close second place.

“Fuck off, Eyeball!” Charlie called with one hand still doing up his fly and one arm out to defend his position.  Eyeball grabbed the rear of Charlie’s T-shirt and almost tore it as he dug his heels in, trying to hold him back.  The two then bolted for the booth and reached the opening, pushing and pulling each other in a boyish battle to win the safe seat.  Charlie punched Eyeball fair in the guts, making his friend double forwards, and that opened up an opportune moment for Charlie to shove his way through.

“Haha, Eyeball!  Get up to the bar, I’m thirsty,” Charlie taunted.

“Oh, you think that’s funny?  Well I think this is hilarious.”  Eyeball laid a fist into Charlie’s stomach, doubly hard, making Charlie’s face contort as he grabbed his belly in pain.

“Cut it out kiddies,” Ace said coolly.  He then chugged down the rest of his beer and let out a belch as big as Texas.  “Come on Eyeball, get to it.”

“But I scored us a bottle of whiskey!”

“Beer.  Now,” Ace demanded.

“Fine,” Eyeball said, patting his pockets.  “Oh, shit, I haven’t found my wallet yet!”

“Don’t try to get outta buying,” laughed Charlie, still holding his stomach.

“It’s probably in your shit heap of a car,” mocked Vince.

“Maybe,” Eyeball said, looking concerned.

“I’ll go look in your car for you,” I told Eyeball.  “You’ll probably forget what you went out there for again.”  I opted for the slow route out of the booth by shuffling along the table past Charlie and Billy.  “Give me your keys.”

“I don’t lock it,” he said.  “And I’ll go look… fuck, I dunno where…”  He wandered off aimlessly and I shook my head at him, again thinking of Natalie.

“Which one’s his?” I asked Charlie.

“It’s out back.  And you’ll know it when you see it,” he laughed.

I grazed Ace’s arm as I passed by him, a subtle way of telling him to follow me.  I stood at the back door to wait for him, and he soon got up and walked over to the pool table with Vince behind him; Jack and Fuzzy’s game was done.  Ace picked up a cue and chalked it and then glanced over to see me impatiently waiting for him.  He told Vince to rack up the balls and then finally strolled over with his expression still blank and giving nothing away.

“What?” he said, and I scoffed at his attitude.

“Why are you ignoring me?”

“So, now you want attention.”

“Just to talk.”

“I heard you already.  Loud and clear.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you really wanted this, Cassie, there’d be no reason good enough to stop you from taking it.”

“I’m just being cautious.  Once bitten, twice shy.”

“You think I’m gonna fuck you and then dump you like that other asshole did?”

I felt my face grow hot.  It was hard to hear Ace talk about James like that; truth hurts.  “I just don’t see how you could leave someone like her for someone like me.  It doesn’t make any logical sense, Ace.  I’ve seen the way you are with her, and I don’t blame you.  She’s gorgeous.  And rich.  She’s everything a man could want.”

“Ants is everything I _thought_ I wanted.”  He gave me a lengthy look before walking off, back to his game of pool with Vince who had been watching us curiously.

**2**

I stepped outside into the dark backstreet and the door closed behind me.  It was quiet out there, and there wasn’t another soul in sight.  Despite the ulterior motives, I _had_ promised Eyeball that I’d help look for his wallet.  I just wasn’t sure about what I should do after that – try to talk things through with Ace more or call it a night.

The back street only had one street light, but I could easily make out his rust bucket in line behind three other cars.  The long, wide strip of dirt is shared by all stores on the block, including the Blue Point Diner, and is often used by Irby’s customers for parking anything that wouldn’t be deemed road worthy.  That place was so familiar to me that I didn’t hesitate to walk straight out into it, even at midnight.

I got into Eyeball’s car and crawled over the seat, feeling around for anything wallet sized.  I checked in the glove box, under the seats, on the dashboard and in the driver’s door but turned up nothing.

“Well, fuck me.”

I sharply twisted around to see a dark figure standing outside, behind me.  I crawled out and closed the door, coming face to face with a broad-shouldered guy with a flat-top military style haircut.  He was wearing a black T-shirt and grubby black jeans, and although he was smiling, he didn’t look too friendly.

“So, it’s true.  Here you are,” he said with dark, disdainful eyes.

“Do I know you?”

“What makes your tiny brain think I’d believe you don’t know who I am?”

It was then that it hit me… like a crowbar to the head.  This was the guy Ace told me about – the guy who allegedly had tried to kill me and left me for dead.  This was my ex-boyfriend.

“Why did you do it to me, baby?  I fucking loved you.  We had the money; we had it all.  And then you turned me in.  Why?”

“Gee, I can’t think of a single reason…”

He suddenly lunged at me and I squealed as he spun me around and strapped one arm around my chest and a grimy hand over my mouth.

“Well, I’ve put all of that behind me now,” he spat into my ear.

The back door to Irby’s closed just behind us and he looked back over his shoulder.  I could barely move and so I couldn’t see, but I guessed it was nothing because he started pushing me down the back street, away from safety and deeper into the darkness.

I wriggled and struggled and tried to kick at him to get free, but my efforts only made things worse.  He took his hand off my mouth, and I went to scream but hearing the flick of a switchblade at my side caught my breath.

“You’re gonna come with me quietly,” he said, touching the blade to my cheekbone.  I tried to back away from it, but that only made him hold it to me tighter.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked, blinking away the tears that were stinging my eyes.

“You’re gonna take me to the money.”

“Money?  You mean Diego’s money?”

“Oh, it ain’t his money.  I worked hard to steal and sell all that coke, so it’s _my_ money.  What’d you do with it?  Huh?  I know you didn’t give it to Diego, so where the hell is it?”

“I don’t know!  I thought you had it!”

“How could I have it?  When I went back to the safehouse to get it, it wasn’t there.  You moved it.  You hid it from me.  So where is it now, huh?  And don’t try telling me you spent it all ‘cos I know you’re not that brave.”

I was in such distress that I didn’t even hear Irby’s back door close, but he did.  He glanced over his shoulder and then spun us both around to face us in the opposite direction.

Ace was strolling coolly towards us, flanked on both sides by Vince and Eyeball.  The three stopped a few yards away under the lone street light, and Ace threw his cigarette to the ground and snuffed it into the dirt with his boot.  “Lewis,” he said smugly.  “Long time no see.”

“Ace?  What the fuck do _you_ want?  This don’t concern you, so you and your buddies can fuck right off.”

“Well, that’s my girl you’ve got your grubby hands all over there, so I say it does concern me.”

Lewis scoffed, his hot breath harshly hitting my ear.  “You fuckin’ tramp…”

“Come on, Lewis,” Ace said.  “Gimme the girl.”

“No way.  I need her.  Now, back off or I’ll cut her, I fucking swear.  Let’s go sweetheart.”

He lowered the blade to my throat and slowly began to lead me backward. Ace and Vince started towards us, but Lewis stiffened his grip on the switch-blade, warning them away.  Ace seemed to err on the side of caution and stuck an arm out in front of Vince, holding him back from going any closer.  I could see Ace’s mind racing through his options which, unfortunately, were few and far between.

“I’m enjoying this little reunion,” Lewis said slyly into my ear.  “I’ve missed this – I really have.”  His lips brushed my neck making me feel repulsively nauseous.  A combination of that, fear, the smell of him and the beer that I didn’t usually like to drink made my stomach turn.

Literally.

My body jerked and I heaved.  All the alcohol the guys had been feeding me came powering out like someone had turned on a fire hose.  It came out of my mouth, out of my nose and went all down the front of me and all down Lewis’s arm – the one that was holding the blade.

Eyeball’s cackle broke out in the back street.  Lewis loosened his grip on me in revulsion and instinctively tried to shake off the chunks of food and foam that I’d splattered from his wrist to his elbow.

It only took me a second to recognize the opportunity to make a break for it.  I faked a second heave at him, and he slackened his grip even more which was enough for me to slip out of his clutches.  I felt him try to grab my arm as I took off and sprinted for the guys - not surprisingly, they all moved to avoid me.  I tore right through them and stopped behind my wall of safety, breathing hard and holding my stinging arm.

“Oh, Lewis,” Ace snickered.  “Ain’t it funny when the tables turn?”

He walked out with Vince at his side, rubbing his knuckles into the palm of his hand.  Eyeball hung back with me; he was in no state for a rumble.  Ace and Vince split up, putting a couple of yards between them, and Lewis pointed his switchblade at each with wide, defensive swipes.

Vince made the first move.  He ran at Lewis who reacted by trying to stab him in the stomach, but Vince jumped back to avoid the blade.  It was just a distraction technique – because meanwhile, Ace was coming in from the other side and booted Lewis hard in the side of the kneecap.  Lewis cried out in pain and buckled sideways, almost falling to the ground.  A weakened grip on the blade made it easier for Vince to wrestle it off him, and he snapped it closed and tossed it away in the dirt.

“Back off now, Vince,” Ace said.

Vince took a few strides back, and Ace looked on as Lewis properly picked himself up to stand.

“Looks like Christmas has come early.  There’s still a five-thousand dollar price on your head, and I’m gonna claim every cent of it.”

“You gotta catch me first,” Lewis shrugged.

The two began to circle each other like feral wolves, Lewis with a slight limp.  He wasted no time in getting the party started though.  He stepped in and took a wide swing at Ace’s nose, and Ace swerved back to avoid it before tucking his head in and doing a running shove into Lewis, sending him backward and ramming him hard up against Eyeball’s car.  Lewis tried to throw a punch, and Ace deflected it and landed a strong right-hook on Lewis’s jaw.  Ace immediately followed it up with a sort of side-ways uppercut to the nose, causing Lewis to buckle forwards and cup his face in his hands as it gushed with blood.

“Oh, you’re gonna regret that,” Lewis said, doubled over and wiping the blood with the back of his hand.

“Look how many swings you’ve taken and not one hit in.  My two and you’re bleeding like a stuck pig.”

Lewis rushed into Ace like a maniac on steroids, tucking his head down and throwing some rapid-fire punches at his torso, and Ace grabbed him by the t-shirt and swung him around before driving his head into Eyeball’s car door.  Lewis fell to his hands and knees and looked a bit dazed as he tried to pick himself up.  But Ace didn’t give him a chance.  He booted Lewis fair in the stomach, causing him to drop back down, face-first into the dirt.  Ace then continued to put the boot in with his steel caps, over and over until Lewis was spitting more blood.

Lewis groaned and tried to pick himself up, making it to his knees but getting no further. “I think you’re an idiot for trying to turn me in,” he grunted.  “If you let me go and make Cassie take us to the money, I’ll give you ten.”

“She doesn’t know where the money is, fuckwit.  And anyway, you’re in no position to negotiate.”  He gave Lewis’s stomach another swift boot, putting him flat on the ground again.

Ace nodded at Vince who went to the boot of Eyeball’s car and rummaged through it to find some rope, some chains and a big fat padlock.  Lewis writhed around in the dirt as Vince bound his wrists with rope, and then he was pulled his feet.  He was a sorry looking thing, all bruised and bloodied, but it was better him than me.

“Eyeball, take her inside.  You stay with her and watch her,” Ace pointed at him.  “Vince, you’re with me.”

The two led Lewis down the back street and I couldn’t help feel afraid for him, knowing where he was headed.  It was like seeing an animal off to the slaughterhouse.  But when he turned back to fire one final, brutal stare at me, I felt more relieved than sorry.

“Come on, inside,” Eyeball slurred. “Hey… what’d you do to your arm?”

I slowly peeled my hand off for a peek at the damage. Blood was running fluently down the length of my arm and dripping off my fingertips and into the dirt.  When Lewis tried to grab me back, he’d done it with the hand that held the blade.  A three-inch long streak ran half an inch deep from the front of my upper arm and around to the back.

“Joe’s got a medic kit inside – we use it all the time.”

“I can’t go back in there like this.  I’m a mess.  I’m covered in puke.  Can you take me home?”

“Shit, Cass… you really want me to drive?” he slurred.  “If I’m caught driving through town shitfaced again…”

“Well, I can’t drive with my arm like this… come on, please Eyeball?  I’m bleeding out here.”

“Shit.  Alright, we’ll go to Ace’s.  Then I don’t gotta drive through town.”

I really wanted to go home but, for the minute, I was happy enough to be going anywhere away from there.  We rushed over to his shit heap which had been restyled with a head-sized dent in the driver’s door.  I slid in first, being careful not to let go of my arm, and Eyeball slid in after me to take the wheel.

“Hey, you’re drippin’ blood all over my seat!”

“Sorry… I’m trying not to… well… here,” I said, and I leaned over.  “Pull my singlet over my head.  I’ll wrap it around my arm.”

“What? I’m not undressing you! Fuck that; Ace’d kill me!”

“I can’t take it off myself!  If I let go of this, I’ll be sitting in a puddle.”

“Fuck…” Eyeball huffed.  He pulled his own T-shirt over his head and held it out to me. “Here, have mine.”

“Well, you’ve gotta tie it…”

“Jesus… give it the fuck here then.”

He snatched it back, and it took him a few drunken seconds to get it tight.

“There, you happy?”

“Huh?” I asked, peeling my eyes off the hot, shirtless sight in front of me.

Eyeball fumbled with getting the keys into the ignition but managed to start the car. He found reverse and then put his foot on the gas… perhaps a little too hard. We were thrown forwards and then jolted to a halt as our rear bumper smacked straight into the car parked behind us.

“Careful!” I said as Eyeball broke into his unique cackle that sounded like a child imitating a machine gun.  “We are so dead.”

But miraculously, we made it to Ace’s OK.  Sure, we took out a garbage can, sideswiped the wing mirror off a shiny new Buick and nearly drove off the highway and into a ditch, but we made it.

My first stop was the bathroom, obviously.  I untied Eyeball’s blood-soaked T-shirt to take a closer look at the wound, and it was a sorry sight.  My arm was a bloody mess and as agonizing as it looked. Deep lines of red bordered the laceration, showing early signs of infection, and around that was a massive purpley-black bruise that spread from my shoulder, nearly down to my elbow.  I couldn’t help the sickening thought that Lewis would have been proud if he’d seen it.

Soap was the only cleanser I could find, and so I leaned over the sink and tried to wash the wound with it.  It throbbed with every heartbeat and the blood just kept on coming.

“Elevate it,” Eyeball said as he walked into the bathroom, pulling one of Ace’s clean T-shirts over his head.  He’d brought me one too and hung it over the towel rail.

I wrapped one of the hand towels around my arm and put pressure on it, taking Eyeball’s advice to raise it in the air.  Leaning against the wall, I took long, steady breaths as I endured the throbbing ache.  I closed my eyes as I began to feel like I was slowly twirling on the spot.  “Whoa…” I said.  I saw blackness for a second and my knees almost gave way, but I managed to fight it off.

“Jesus, are you alright?” I heard Eyeball ask, somewhere in the distance.  I opened my eyes to see him still standing right in front of me.  “You’re white as a ghost.”

“Help me get this thing off,” I murmured.

He didn’t argue with me this time. I felt him grasp the edge of my singlet and slowly peel it up off me, taking extra care as he pulled it down my arms.  I stood there my bra, not caring one bit about it, while he took the courtesy of properly tying the hand towel around my arm.  The wound seemed to be holding, and so I soaped up a cloth to sponge myself down and clean myself up before Eyeball helped me get Ace’s t-shirt over my head.

“Thanks Eyeball.”

“You’d better sit down before you die on me.”  He wrapped his arm around my waist and held me for support as we both staggered into the lounge.  He eased me down onto the sofa and I lay back, keeping my elbow elevated.

“How’s it feel?” he asked, and he slumped down on the end of the sofa, at my feet.

“Painful.”

It sure felt good to lie down.  I listened to my soft, steady breaths as I watched Eyeball through tired eyes.  I’d come to realize how much I considered him as a good friend.  Who would have thought it?

“You saved me tonight – you really did.  All of you did.”

Eyeball scratched a match to light his cigarette then tossed it into the ashtray on the coffee table. He nestled himself into the sofa and closed his eyes, lazing back and inhaling long, slow relaxing puffs now and then.

“That was fuckin’ funny,” he suddenly snickered, startling me from fading away into unconsciousness. “Puking at him to get away.  You shoulda seen his face.  Ain’t never seen nothin’ like it.”

“I thought I was a goner.”

“If I hadn’t come out to tell you I found my wallet, you woulda been.  Vince hid it from me.  Can you believe that son of a bitch?  If he hadn’t done that, you’d never had gone out there.”

“This wasn’t Vince’s fault.  Lewis would have found me one way or another.  What if he’d come to my house when I was alone?  Things worked out for the best, and I owe the three of you for being there at the right time and the right place.  I really do.”

Eyeball sucked down one last puff and then skillfully flicked the butt into the ashtray.  “Ace’ll probably never tell you he cares about you, Cass.  But if he ever comes to rescue you from some crazy fuck in the middle of a game of pool, you’ll know he does.”

“I dunno… he _is_ off claiming five thousand dollars right now.”

“If you’d seen the look on his face when I told him you were in trouble, you wouldn’t doubt nothin’.”

I gave him a weak smile and then closed my eyes again.  “Maybe.”


	21. A New Chapter

"And that short, redheaded dick you told me about?  You were right – it was him who told Lewis where to find Cass.  He’d been scoping her out for weeks, just waiting for his buddy to get into town.”

“Did you go looking for him?”

“Yeah.  And we found him easy.  Stupid dumbass went home.  So we beat the shit outta that fucknut and put his head through a window.  It’ll take him a week to pick the glass out of his face.”

“That’s fucking mean,” Eyeball said with a cruel snicker.

“At least he won’t be back – guaranteed.”

“What about Lewis?  He gone for good too?”

“I’d bet so.  Carl almost finished him off right there in the driveway.  Can you imagine getting hit by that motherfucker?  It’d be like getting bowled by a wrecking ball.  But they took him inside, barely conscious.  Gotta admit, the guy sure could stand up to a good beating.”

“Did you get paid?”

“They’re gonna get someone to drop it off in a few days.  We did show up out of the blue.”

“Did you see… her?”

“With Diego around?  No chance.  But I don’t think she’s there.”

I had woken to hear Ace and Eyeball chatting quietly in the kitchen, and I stayed on the sofa in the living room to listen to them for a while.  It was still dark and my watch read 3 o’clock, so I must have been out for a couple of hours.  Getting to my feet wasn’t easy.  My head felt woozy from all the blood loss, and the immense pain of my arm made me feel lethargic.  I walked into the kitchen to join them, dragging my feet, and slumped onto the chair next to Ace.  I noticed he had changed clothes and had a clean look about him, so I guessed he’d been back for a while.  "Where's Vince?" I muttered.

"Gone home.  What's with the towel?" Ace had noticed a bit of it hanging out from under the sleeve of his borrowed T-shirt.

“Lewis left me a memento."

“Show me.”

“Alright, just… be careful.”  I lifted my arm to him, and he pushed up the sleeve and peeled back the towel.

"Jesus Christ…”

I was horrified to see how much the infection had deepened.  Lewis’s knife must have been filthy.  At least the bleeding had stopped.

“He’s paying his dues,” Ace said.  “Carl was one happy man when he saw us pull up.  I’d be surprised if Lewis lives through the night.”

“Well, I’m not gonna say I’m happy to hear that because I’m not,” I said.  “But I am grateful to you guys for being there and for helping me out.  Anyway, I need to clean my arm.”

I scuffled off to the bathroom just to get away from that morbid conversation.  I didn’t really want to clean my arm; I didn’t want to touch it.  Everything I tried only seemed to make it worse.  I stood at the sink just staring at it and feeling helpless and frustrated.  It was like it wasn’t really part of me; like some wild parasite had slithered up and attached itself and refused to get off.  I thought back to happier times – like earlier that evening - when it wasn’t there.

“That's not lookin' good.”  Ace walked into the bathroom carrying a bottle of Jim Beam in one hand and an amber half-gallon bottle of Clorox bleach in the other.  He set the bottle of bleach aside and then unscrewed the whiskey and poured a shot into the lid.  “Take a swig of this.”

I stared wide-eyed at the bleach, knowing just how he planned to use it.  He insisted with the shot, and so I took it from him and downed it.  After another three, I felt a little better.  That familiar euphoric sensation was a good distraction and it calmed my nerves.

Ace took a couple of shots himself – he obviously couldn’t resist - and then set the whiskey aside.  “Now for the fun part.”  He unscrewed the cap off the bleach and held it over the sink.  “Hold your arm out.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“This shit would get a 30-year-old urinal clean.  Hold it out.”

I was still hesitant, but at three in the morning, was also fresh out of alternatives.  I leaned over the sink with my elbow pointed upwards and my stomach doing flips.

Ace tipped up the end of the bottle and paused just before the liquid met the lip.  “Brace yourself.”

I did, but nothing could have prepared me for the pain that was about to hit.

“Fuck…”  The word squelched out of my throat as the bleach seeped into the cut.  It stung like he was pouring on razors and it bled a little, but I didn’t dare pull away.  After a good dousing, he flushed the wound with water to get all the bleach out and then wiped around it with a dry cloth.

“You want stitches?” he asked.  The look of horror on my face easily got the message across that that was a negative.  “You need ‘em.”

“I’ll go to the doctor tomorrow.”

Ace shrugged and started fixing the wound with some kind of surgical tape instead.

“I thought he had me tonight,” I muttered.  “I really did.”

“We never woulda let that happen.”

“But what if you weren’t there?  What if things had been different?”

“That kinda thinking won’t do you any good.”

“How did I even get into that situation?  How could I have… that guy was a creep.”

“Some guys are good at only showing you what they want you to see – especially at the start.  And your mom just died; you were alone.  He probably found you as easy prey.”

“You always have the answers.”

He wound a bandage around my arm until it looked like a fat marshmallow and then fastened it with a safety pin.  “That’s good,” I sighed with relief.  “Feels better already.”

“I'm crashin' in your spare room.”  We caught a glimpse of Eyeball as he went trudging past the bathroom, and we soon heard a door shut down the hall.

Ace leaned against the wall with his thumbs in his Levis and silently stared at me with his eyes all drowsy and tired.  As I thought about what he had done for me that night and always, a warm feeling spread through my chest, touching places so deep I never even knew they existed.

“Suppose you want me to take you home,” he said.

“No… not really.”  My voice sounded as breathless as I felt.

For a moment, we just gazed at each other; I had expected him to take the open invitation with both hands – literally – but he just smirked and switched the leg he was leaning on.  I laughed and rolled my eyes at him, and then folded my arms, mimicking his stubbornness to give in.

“Just get over here.”  He shot me a wolfish grin, and I was done playing.  I went to him and wrapped my good arm around his neck and kissed him hungrily.  Like I was starving for it.  He quickly took control as if it were rightfully his and whirled me around, forcing my back against the wall.  His kiss was intense.  It was like he hadn’t tasted his favorite scotch in a year and my mouth was thick with the flavor.  The T-shirt I had borrowed was whisked up over my head, and rough, warm fingertips rode up my spine, kneading into my skin as he pulled me in tightly against him.  My bra came loose around me, and I shucked it off before freeing his t-shirt and getting it up over his head.  I found myself being scooped up, and I clung to him as we fled the bathroom as a heated mesh of skin and jeans.

He kicked his bedroom door closed behind him and dropped me onto the unmade mess of sheets and blankets.  A bedside lamp was flicked on that was fitted with a red colored bulb, and the room was filled with a darkened red glow that flushed our skin.  Ace stood above me, looking me over with a devilish grin that excited and scared me.  I braced myself as he crawled over me and then lay so heavily on my chest that I could feel his heart racing…

\---

I drowsily opened my eyes and rolled over, feeling the sheets brush over my bare skin.  Ace was lying next to me, sleeping on his stomach with his arms and head buried under the pillow.  I coyly bit my lip as I thought about the wild couple of hours we’d spent together.  That night, it felt like I was living in a dreamland – like maybe I’d just stepped into the twilight zone or something.  But seeing Ace laying there in the daylight made it all become insanely real.

The other thing that was insanely real was the immense pain of my arm.  I grabbed my watch from the bedside dresser and saw that it was just after midday.  Dr. Clarkson always closed his doors at 4 pm sharp on a Friday, and he never worked on the weekends except when there was an emergency callout.

I sat up with little enthusiasm and kicked at the pile of clothes at my feet, searching for the ones that were mine.  I reached down to swipe my jeans off the floor when I felt the bed sink in behind me.  I couldn’t help the grin when Ace tucked my hair behind my ear and whispered, “Where you goin’?”

“To the doctor, of course.  I need stitches.  Among other things…”

“Later.”  He lighted raked his fingers across my belly and started kissing into my neck, gently teasing and seducing my skin.

“Damn, you’re insatiable,” I chuckled.

“No, you satisfied me good, baby.”

“Greedy then.”

“Aw, you love it.”

I glanced over my shoulder and gave him a little grin.  “So?”

He got this lewd look in his eyes then, and I let out an excited squeal as he reached over to grab me under the knees and whip my legs up onto the bed, having me on my back in an instant.

\--

Sometime later, I woke again and reached for my watch.  It was just after two now and I thought I’d better get moving if I was to have any chance of seeing the doctor today.  I slid out from under Ace’s arm while trying not to wake him, and then quietly pulled on my clothes as well as one of his T-shirts which I knotted at the front so it wouldn’t look so massive on me.

After one last glance to check he was still sleeping, I stepped into the hall and closed his bedroom door behind me.  At that exact moment, Eyeball walked out of the bathroom and cracked a big fat grin which made me go beet red.

“Don’t say a word,” I warned him.

“Wasn’t gonna.”

“Good.”

Both of us went into the kitchen – me to find the keys to Ace’s truck and Eyeball to raid his fridge.  I found the keys quickly and was about to walk out the front door when I paused for a moment.

“Thanks for everything Eyeball.”

“You got it,” he grinned before crunching a bite out of an apple.

\---

Dr. Clarkson asked too many questions.  I told him I ran past a sharp piece of tin, but he kept pressing me about who did it.  Perhaps he’d seen it all before.  Still, I came out of there twenty minutes later with an arm full of stitches and a bag full of pills, and so I was happy.

Eyeball’s car wasn’t parked outside Ace’s house like it had been when I left, and so I supposed he’d shot through.  Ace was there though, and he came out of the living room and grinned when he saw me dump a big bag of clothes on his floor.  He had asked me to stay for a few days, but I had packed like I was never going back.

“Hey,” I said.

He walked over to me with a look in his eyes that gave my belly the warm and fuzzies.  He put one hand on my neck and the other on my cheek and leaned in to give me a kiss that drove me wild all over again.

“How’s the arm?” he asked.

I had to take a breath to steady myself.  “It’s fine.  Got a bunch of pills and thirteen stitches.  Unlucky number thirteen – can you believe it?”

“Feel up to going out?  It’s Friday night.”

“What did you have in mind?” I asked.

“Grab a jacket.”

A few minutes later, we were tearing down the highway in the ’49.  It had been a warm summer day, but the temperature was cooling now that it was coming late evening.  “What you doin’ sittin’ all the way over there?” he had said, and so I was at his side and getting used to the new feeling of having his arm around me in public.

When we got to the main intersection where the highway ended and Castle Rock began, Ace took a left onto the road where the sign pointed the way to ‘Castle View’.  I had never been up that way before but had always wanted to see what the Castle Rock locals were talking about when they referred to the ‘rich folks up on the view’.

There wasn’t much to see for a while though; not for a good ten minutes or so as we wound around the steep inclines that were surrounded by trees and tufts of bush.  When we reached the summit and the road leveled out again, we found ourselves driving through some of the fanciest suburban streets I had ever seen.  The houses were larger far more modern than anything Castle Rock had to offer.  White picket fences were everywhere, and every lawn and hedge was neatly trimmed.  There were some very expensive looking cars parked in the driveways, and usually more than one.  Everything about that place was immaculate, and I felt both envious and inspired.

Ace made a few turns, ending us up in a less populated area that had a thick layer of bush and trees on one side of the road.  To my surprise, he took a sharp turn straight into it, through an entrance that was almost hidden in the scrub.  We bounded along a narrow dirt path which looked like it only existed because cars had been driving down it and wearing it in over the years, and I wondered where on earth it could lead to.

“Close your eyes,” he said before I could get my question out.

I cocked an eyebrow at him.  “Huh?  Why?”

“Just do it.  And keep ‘em closed until I say you can open them.”

I did as he said, and the car continued bounding along until the road seemed to flatten out and we eventually stopped.  Ace turned off the engine, and my ears were filled with the sounds of peace and serenity.  I felt him get out of the car, and he took my hand to guide me out behind him.

“Where are we?” I asked, eyes still closed.

With one hand on the small of my back and the other securely holding my upper arm, Ace walked me a few steps forward and then we stopped.  The breeze seemed stronger there where we stood, and I felt a sense of complete openness before me.

“OK, take a look.”

I opened my eyes to see the drop of a 100-foot cliff face below.  I’m not scared of heights – not usually – but the suddenness of seeing nothing at my feet caught me off-guard.

“Don’t fall,” Ace said, giving me a sharp nudge.

“Shit!” I grabbed hold of him as the fear of it hit me right in the chest.  Ace laughed and I slapped him hard in the arm.  “Asshole.  Don’t do that!”

“I got you, you big girl.”  His arm wrapped around my neck and pulled me tighter to his side.

The view was breathtaking.  At the foot of the cliff was a wide river, beyond that was a wall of forest and trees, and beyond that was Castle Rock.  You could see the layout of the whole town from up there - Grand Street which ran straight through the heart of it, the big industrial area to the south which had the train station, and even my little corner of the world could be seen sitting in the distance, way over to the west.  Also to the west was the setting sun.

The lookout itself was an area about half the size of a football field, and it was long rather than wide.  There were a few other couples dotted over the landscape, but they seemed more interested in each other than in us.

“Can’t believe I’ve never been up here,” I said.

“Only been here a few times myself.”

“Oh, I thought this would be some kind of ritual you do for all your new girlfriends.”

“Only times I’ve been up here is for a couple of parties and when I was lookin’ to bust a guy’s nose.”

“So… you mean, you genuinely brought me here to watch the sunset?”

“What are you getting at?” he eyed me.

“You’re not going soft, are you?”

He smirked.  “Have a feel and find out.”

I chuckled and cleared my throat.

“There’s a few lookouts around.  Over that way,” he pointed towards the east, “there’s one that overlooks Castle Lake.  You think the places around here are rich.  It’s fucking snobsville down there.”

“I bet the lake makes an amazing view, but I like this place.  It’s really something.”

“Even comes with front row seats.”  He jumped up onto the hood of his car and lay back against the windshield.

“Wow, you really went all out.”  I climbed up next to him and welcomed his arm around me again.

“I brought you here ‘cause I thought you needed it,” he said after a while.  “Luck hasn’t been on your side lately, and I thought this might take a load off.”

I smiled, feeling chuffed and rather touched by the gesture.  “Thanks.  It does help.”

We lay there for a while as we waited for the sun to touch the hills on the horizon.  Ace grabbed a hipflask out of his glovebox at some point, and we swigged on that as the sunset watching became stargazing.  Looking up at the night sky reminded me of Natalie which was lucky because I’d almost forgotten that I was supposed to be sneaking her out for her date with Vince soon.  I tucked myself tighter under Ace’s arm, wanting to savor every second of the moment.

“You gotta be somewhere?” he asked as I checked my watch for the fifth time that hour.

“Oh it’s just… Vince is taking Natalie out tonight.”

“Yeah, he’s been bragging about it.”

“That’d be Vince.”

“What’s it to do with you?”

“I’m her friend,” I shrugged.  “And I told her I’d be there.  I just hope I can stomach walking down that backstreet in the dark after what happened last night.”

“I’ll be there,” he shrugged.

“Would you?”

“Course I would.  After those two have fucked off, it’s back to my place.”

I coyly bit my lip.  “Works for me…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Amanda and Britt for the kind comments, and to everyone else who left kudos - It's a good feeling to hear that you are all reading and coming along for the ride because that gives me good reasons to keep pushing on with it.
> 
> And one last note that I have to put in as a sort of disclaimer I guess, do not use bleach on a wound unless you're really hard up. While I'm sure it would kill any germs it comes into contact with, it can burn your skin. It would have been safer to use hydrogen peroxide (which he probably has!), but Ace being Ace picked to use the hard stuff.


	22. Rivalry

I made Ace wait in the back street while I jumped the picket fence into Natalie’s backyard and went to her window.  She was waiting for me, and I helped her climb down into sweet freedom.

“Hi Cassie,” she whispered.  She hugged me so tight I felt my intestines move.

“Natalie… air…”

“Sorry.”  She let me go.

I saw that she was wearing a pinafore style dress and long sleeve blouse underneath, similar to the outfits she always wore.  It hung at her ankles and was more conservative than a Catholic school uniform.  After meeting her three times now, I was aware that her freedom was restricted in numerous ways, including the clothing she owned.  Thus, I had fully prepared and organized.

“Is Vince here yet?” she whispered.

“No.  There’s been a change of plans.  We’re meeting him at my place instead.  Are you excited?” Although, by the way she was beaming from ear to ear and nervously fussing, it was obvious.

“Oh yes.  My first date.  Oh, I’m shaking inside.”

“Come on then, Ace is waiting.”

“Ace?”

“Yeah, he’s our ride.”  I had actually forgotten that Natalie didn’t know about us yet.  “We um… worked things out.”

“Oh!  Oh… very well then…”

I sensed her sudden hesitancy and put a reassuring arm around her.  “Don’t worry, he won’t bite.”

“How can you be so sure?” she said with an anxious laugh.

Ace barely acknowledged her, which I thought was quite rude, but now wasn’t the time to be sorting out the issues between them.  I had half an hour to get Natalie ready before Vince would arrive and I couldn’t waste a second of it.

I made Ace wait by himself in my living room while I pulled Natalie into my bedroom.

“What are we doing, Cassie?” she asked.

I took the large, square, flat box from where I’d left it on my bed and handed it to her.

“A gift?  You bought me a gift?”  She looked at me like she suddenly wasn’t sure if I was real anymore - like I was too good to be true.

“Just don’t ever let your folks see it, because I bet they’d burn it.”

She took the top off the lid, and her eyes went wide in surprise as she revealed the pastel green fabric.  I did her the honor of taking out the bundle and unraveling it for her to see.  It was a simple strapless style that tucked in at the bust and had a petticoat underskirt that made the dress flare.  I had also bought her white heels and a white jacket to complete the look.

“Oh Cassie… it’s gorgeous.”  I noticed her eyes start to well, and I took a breath to sort out that raw feeling that was building in my throat.

“At first, I was worried about Vince being the one to take you out, but now, all that matters to me is that you have a good time.  You deserve a good time.”

I fussed over her for a full twenty minutes, fixing her hair and filling her head with all sorts of motherly advice.  We heard Vince’s Studebaker pull up, and I told her to wait for a minute while I went out to meet him.  While I went out to lecture him.

“What are you doing here?” Vince asked Ace when he walked in the door.

“Waiting for you two to fuck off so I can get laid,” he replied.  He sounded like he was getting impatient after mindlessly waiting around for so long.

Vince’s eyes just darted between Ace and I; for once I was witnessing Vince speechless and, I must say, I liked him much better that way.  He looked good though, dressed smart-casual in tidy jeans and a black collared shirt.  I was thankful that he’d gone to some amount of effort.

“Listen Vince,” I said, you are going to treat her like royalty tonight.  “Because if you don’t, you will have me to answer to.”

I’m sure that at any other time, Vince would have laughed at me for trying to give him orders, but I don’t think he heard a word I had said.  Natalie had entered the room and stolen his attention.  If everyone has a color, that shade of pastel green was hers.  Her dark hair flowed around her bare shoulders, and her green eyes sparkled with it.  The dress was a perfect fit, and it hugged her small waist and flared at the knees.

Vince scrapped his jaw off the floor and pulled himself together.  “Hello, Natalie,” he smiled.  “You look… beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she replied shyly.

Ace’s eyes were repetitively scanning her from head to toe.  It was nice that he was finally acknowledging her, but I didn’t approve of the grin that revealed every dirty thought that was running through his mind.  I joined him at his side to remind him that I existed.  But he hadn’t forgotten.  No sooner had the door closed behind Vince and Nat, he was at me, driving me backwards towards my bedroom.

**2**

After working up a thirst, we decided to go for a drink.  I had to meet Natalie somewhere around there later anyway to see her home.  I have to admit, I was nervous walking into Irby’s with Ace’s arm around my waist, but it was a mixed bag of reactions.  Some people stared, some people didn’t care.  And none of the guys seemed surprised.   

“Did you see Vince before?” Charlie laughed as Eyeball took his shot on the pool table.  “All done up nice and pretty.  That son of a bitch smelt like fucking flowers.  Can you believe him?”

“He ain’t getting laid like he’s tryna,” Billy added.  “I know them Catholic girls.”

“What Catholic girl?” Eyeball asked.

“Where the hell have you been?” Billy said.  “Vince has been bangin’ on about her all day.”

“You seen that new chick in town?” Charlie asked.  “Her folks bought the diner.”

“She’s cute but Jesus, she wears some _ugly_ dresses,” Billy said, dragging the word ‘ugly’ through the dirt.

“Are you talkin’ about Natalie?  Vince is taking _Natalie_ out?” Eyeball said.

“Yeah, that was her name.”

Eyeball had a look of confusion as if he couldn’t quite comprehend it all.

“I dunno why Vince is bothering with that.  He’ll have to marry her before she even lets him cop a feel,” Billy laughed.

“Natalie ain’t like all them others,” Eyeball said.  “She’s different.  There’s just somethin’ about her that’s… different.”

“You don’t know shit,” Charlie shot back.  “I bet you a thousand bucks Vince don’t even make it to first base.”

“I bet you two thousand dollars he do!”

“Put your money where your mouth is then, asshole!”

Eyeball handed his cue to Billy before fishing his wallet out of his back pocket.  He pulled out a ten-dollar bill and slapped it on the pool table.  Far from two thousand dollars, but it would suffice.  Charlie did the same, slapping a crinkled ten on top of Eyeball’s.

“That money is _all_ mine,” Charlie jeered.  “You just wait and see.”

“Will you lot shut the fuck up?” Ace finally interjected from the booth.  “I’ve been sittin’ here for ten minutes listening to you pussies whine, and not one of you has brought me and my girl a drink.  So, who’s up?”

“Billy’s shout,” Eyeball snickered, putting his now empty beer bottle down on the pool table.  “I’m broke.”

“Yeah, me too,” Charlie quickly jumped in.

“Nah, screw you guys; I bought the last round!” Billy protested.

“And now you’re buying the next one!” Eyeball jeered at him.

“Come on, Billy!”  Ace snapped.  “Stop being a fucking scrooge.”

Billy’s face screwed up in disgust, and he carelessly threw Eyeball’s cue onto the pool table, knocking some of the balls, before bumbling towards the bar.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen _you_ get the drinks,” I elbowed Ace.  “Even I’ve done it a couple of times.”

“Who do you think got all that beer for the party the other week?  Or all that top-shelf liquor you drink up at the garage?”

“I suppose.”

“You suppose.”

Billy came back with an armful of beer bottles and all but dropped them onto the table in front of us.  “That’s the last beer I’m buying anyone here until someone buys _me_ one for once,” he said.

“So, if I buy you one beer, you’ll keep ‘em comin’ after that?” Charlie poked at him.

“No dickwad.  From now on, we should all take it in turns.”

“Well, nobody cares what you think.”

“He does have a point though, guys,” I piped up.  “Billy _is_ nominated to buy more often than not.”

Billy frowned at me for a moment in pure astonishment.  “See?” he told the guys.

“I’ll get the next one,” I said.  “Even though I only drink beer when I’m desperate.”  I pushed the bottle he gave me over to Ace.

Nobody argued with that, and so when every bottle was consumed, I got up to adhere to my word.  Joe gave me the same look as he always did – one of complete disapproval.  His thick eyebrows furrowed so low that you could hardly see his eyes.

“What’ll it be?” he huffed, leaning in on his bar.

“Four beers, thanks.  And two shots of JD’s.”

Joe sighed and started on the order, moving at a reluctant one mile per hour.  He finally poured my shots, and I went to hand him the money when Ace sat on the barstool beside me.  He pulled me in to sit on his knee, and I reveled at feeling his arm come around my waist.

“Add another four shots to that,” he said to Joe, and he put a five-dollar bill on the bar top.  That would be enough to cover everything we’d ordered and then some, and so I tucked my money back into my pocket.

“You didn’t have to do that.  I don’t mind paying.”

“I wanted to.”  He held up a shot, and I picked up mine for him to clink before we downed them.  Two more shots went down and Ace told Joe to keep them coming.

“Wow, you _are_ feeling generous tonight.”

“Generosity is my forte.”  His eyes strayed to a packet of cigarettes that lay open in front of the old man to his left, and he snatched one up and stuck it in his mouth.

“Right…” I chuckled.

The old man’s attention stayed fixated on the baseball game playing on the television, and so Ace took another one and stuck it behind his ear.  The man still hadn’t noticed a thing, and so Ace swiped the packet and slipped it into his jacket pocket.

I could only shake my head in disbelief at his nerve.

Ace waved Eyeball over to collect the beers to give to the guys.  “Pass over a dozen more, Joe.  And leave the Jacks,” he ordered.

Joe just looked at him for a minute and then sighed again before turning to get the beers.

It turned out that Ace had been milking the guy beside him for more than just cigarettes.  He casually reached down into the guy’s jacket pocket, which was loosely tied around his waist, and his nimble fingers soon flicked out a crumpled bill to hand to Joe.

“You sly bastard,” I laughed softly, flabbergasted as he pocketed the change.

With a smug grin, he handed me another shot before tossing one back himself.

“Alright kids,” Joe said, “that’s it – ten minutes to closing time.  Now scat.”

“What are you fussin’ about, old man?  We keep you in business.”

“Bullshit you do, now piss off.”

Ace rose from his chair, bumping me off his lap, and he leaned in over the bar to stare at Joe who was staring back at him just the same.  “Don’t forget what I did for you, asshole.  I can make that file reappear just as quick as it went missing.  All I gotta do is say the word.  You owe me so much, you’re lucky me and my boys pay you anything at all.  In fact, get me another bottle of Jack’s on the house.  Unopened.”

Now, Joe is a big, brawny sack of man meat, and I bet he could squash Ace if he wanted to.  After Ace had spoken to him that way, he looked like he wanted to.  Those formidable eyes of his were staring daggers, and his face had flustered red with anger.  But even still, he turned and got us a new bottle of whiskey and thumped it on the counter.

“Now _piss_ off,” Joe said.

Ace smirked and snatched up the bottle before grabbing me around the waist and leading me off.

“What’s the story there?” I asked quietly in his ear.

“Few months ago, he was buying stolen booze by the truckload,” Ace murmured back.  “Top-shelf shit and real, real cheap.  The cops knew about it and had gathered enough evidence to prosecute.  All they needed to do was arrest him.  But, his file mysteriously disappeared.  All the evidence they had, gone.  He’s stopped doing it now and so the cops can’t do shit.”

“And don’t tell me – you have the file.”

“Buried somewhere between here and Chamberlain.  Easy to get, impossible to find.”

I stared at him with a disbelieving grin.  “Oh Ace, you are just something else.”

“Don’t I know it,” he smirked, patting me on the ass.

Patrons flooded out of the small, crowded space and onto the pavement out front.  I could hear whistling and catcalling going on, but it wasn’t until Ace and I got outside ourselves that I could see what it was all about.  Vince and Natalie had returned from wherever they’d been, and they were standing around outside waiting for us.

“Fuck off, you old fart – you want a knuckle sandwich?  ‘Cause I can make plenty of ‘em to go, just for you.”  Vince was yelling at whoever had just whistled at his new girl while Natalie shied away from the attention by tucking herself into Vince’s side.

The crowd quickly dissolved; they took their cars or faded away at either end of the street, leaving just me, Natalie and the boys who had all gone silent.  I looked around at them all, and I kid you not – every single eye was on her.  Including Ace’s.  I felt like making a stab at Billy for using the word ‘ugly’ earlier.

“Damn Nat,” Eyeball said, shaking his head.  “Just… damn…”  Natalie blushed and shyly beamed at him as he approached her with his eyes brazenly roaming over her from head to toe.  "You busy tomorrow night?"  He was more than a bit drunk, and I don’t think he realized how rude he was being to his best buddy.  But Vince was sober, and he sure noticed.

“What the fuck are you doin’ man?” Vince said, standing up to him.  “Take a hike.”

Ace placed a heavy hand on Eyeball’s shoulder.  “Eyeball, go wait in the car.”

Eyeball recognized Ace’s seriousness and decided to back down, but not without winking at Natalie in one last fleeting glance.  Vince balled up his fists but stayed put as Eyeball half-walked, half-wobbled to Ace’s ride parked down the street.  Natalie’s gaze followed him the whole way until Vince pulled her around to tuck her back into him.

Vince wouldn’t let her go.  He clung to her side while Ace and I walked them around to the backstreet behind her house, he made Ace and I walk back out to the road to give them privacy for a goodnight snog, and not even Ace’s “hurry the fuck up, I’m hungry” hurry along was enough to get him moving.  In the end, I peeled Natalie off Vince's arm and rushed her over the fence before he could follow us.

“Wow, Vince sure seems to like you…” I said.  I locked arms with her as we took it nice and slow to her bedroom window.

“He was a complete gentleman tonight,” she sighed.  “He opened every door, paid for our meal and movie… and he made me smile a lot.  He made me laugh.”

“Yes, Vince does have a unique sense of humor…”

“He was my first kiss,” she chuckled.  “I can’t believe I kissed a boy tonight.  I feel like I’m finally a real woman.”

“Was he any good?” I laughed.

“Yes… I think so.  Although, I have nothing to compare it to…”

“When a guy is good, you’ll know.”

We arrived at her window, and as we had a goodbye hug, she whispered into my ear, “Did you see the way Eyeball looked at me tonight?”

I tensed up at the question – I had been dreading her bringing that up as I didn’t know how to answer or what advice to give.  “It was hard not to,” I finally whispered back.  “But you know, all the guys were looking at you like that.  You’re stunning, and they wouldn’t be real men if they didn’t notice you.”

“Thank you, Cass.  That’s very nice of you to say so, but… you know how I feel about him.”

I held her at arm’s length.  “Look Nat, you know I’m no Vince advocate.  But Eyeball is your boyfriend’s best friend who is also your best friend’s boyfriend.  If you go after him, you’re asking for trouble.”

“I know.”

I gave her a sympathetic smile.  “Has he asked you for a second date?”

“Wednesday.”

“Then, I guess I’ll see you then.  I’ll keep the dress for you at my place.  I’ll wait and you can pass it down.”

**3**

Ace and Vince were waiting for me in the back street when I returned, which I was thankful for.  It used to feel like a second home, but now the place gave me the creeps.  I tucked myself tight into Ace’s side as we walked, and I couldn’t help scoping the place out as if I thought Lewis would jump out of the bushes at us, all bruised and bloodied like something out of a horror movie.  Ace said that he was supposed to be gone now, but for some reason I couldn’t believe it.

“Natalie’s a blast,” Vince said.  “She’s a real looker, she’s not all ditzy or mouthy like some chicks can get, and she’s up for anything.”

“Anything?” I looked at him, concerned.

“Thanks for hooking us up, Cass.  Although, I bet I could have done it without you.”

Ace gave me a questioning sideways glance, and I pretended I didn’t notice.

“Just look after her,” I said.  “And don’t try to rush her into anything.  She’s new to all of this.”

“Hey, I’m a complete gentleman!”

“You’d better be.”

We got back to Ace’s car where Eyeball was still waiting and partially dozing in the front seat.  “Finally,” he said, waking himself up.

“What was the big idea before?” Vince asked him.  He took one irate step towards Eyeball, but Ace put a hand on his chest to stop him from going any closer.

“Go home, Vince,” Ace ordered.  Vince saw the seriousness in Ace’s expression and decided to back down.

“You can get her out for me on Wednesday, Cass?” Vince asked, and I reluctantly nodded.

“Catch you then.”

He walked off down the street to his car, still parked outside Irby’s, and made a point of peeling out hard on the road.  Meanwhile, I found myself sitting between Ace and Eyeball.  We headed in the direction of Eyeball’s place to drop him home and were a little way through town when Ace said, “Eyeball.  Back off that chick.  You hear me?”

Eyeball shook his head, looking both livid and gutted.  “Ace, come on, man…”

“You and Vince need to stop fightin’ over these broads.  If you two fall out, I’m fucked.  You dig me?”

Eyeball sighed and sunk back into his seat.  “Yeah, I dig you man.”  But I don’t think he dug Ace at all.  He kept looking over at Ace as if he wanted to say something to change his mind.  “I still can’t believe she got out for the night.  From what I’ve heard, her folks would chain her to the wall if they found out.”

“She was willing to take the risk,” I said.  “And anyway… she wants out of there.  And fairly soon, I imagine.”

“Yeah, I knew she was different.  I said that, didn’t I?” Eyeball elbowed me in the side.  “And now she’s a fox!  And available…”

“Quit it, Eyeball,” came the reminder from Ace.

“So, what are you doin’ helpin’ Vince, huh Cass?” Eyeball asked me.  “I thought you hated him.”

“The man makes a good point there,” Ace said, giving me a sideways glance.

“Natalie just wanted to go on a date,” I shrugged.

“So, you put her with someone you hate?  That don’t make any sense,” Eyeball said.

“I don’t _hate_ Vince.  The more I’ve gotten to know him, I just… accept him.”

“Well, did you think of me?  I’ve hung out with her; I know her best.  So, if you were gonna hook her up with someone, it should’ve been me, ain’t it?”

“What are you even talking about, Eyeball?  You’re with Carol!”

“Me and Carol ain’t goin’ nowhere.  Her parents would go ape if they knew we was seein’ each other.  If they knew she was seein’ a Chambers.  But if Natalie’s gonna walk out on her folks… she ain’t gonna care _what_ they think.”

“Eyeball, get the idea out of your fucking pants, right now!” Ace said.  “I mean it!”

“I’m just sayin’ that she _would’ve_ been perfect for me.  Damn Cassie…”

I gaped at him, horrified to be getting slapped with the blame of him and Natalie not ending up together when the idea had only just occurred to him.  We arrived at the end of Eyeball’s very steep and gravel driveway, and I could see the outline of a big house up on the hill in the darkness.  I did realize that this was Chris’s place as well, and I looked out for him but didn’t see anyone.

“Night, Eyeball,” I said, but I got no reply.  He just slammed the door and started storming up the hill.

“Can you believe him?” I said.

“Yup.”


End file.
